What We Have
by Today.Is.Life
Summary: Mills and Brett's disappearance has nothing to do with Lullo, but that's what their captor would like them to think. Because today brought the perfect opportunity for him, today everything fell into place, and he could finally take what he really wanted. What he'd waited for months for. Rated M. Includes all characters. PD too. Dawsey. SevaCasey. Family Fic.
1. The Worst

**Hey everyone!**

**Firstly I want to apologise for the delay in 'It's never that simple.' I've been super busy as of late and have struggled to have time to write. But that update should be ready for you all in the next few days.**

**So I bet you're wondering why I've written this. Well it's been in my head ever since the FallFinale - which I'm still upset about - and I just had to write it.**

**I hope you enjoy this first chapter and that you're all interested enough to read more!**

**Thank you all for staying with me through this!**

**It's of course #Dawsey centric but has all characters in it, including PD characters.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Hannah.**

**oxoxox**

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><p>Mills and Brett's disappearance has nothing to do with Lullo, but that's what their captor would like you to think. Because today brought the perfect opportunity for him, today everything fell into place, and he could finally take what he really wanted.<p>

What he'd waited for months for.

* * *

><p>He watched as she raced out the door of the apartment, almost slamming it behind her. He noticed how her face was red and puffy, her cheeks tear-stained, her eyes wet and upset. She hadn't been home long, maybe twenty minutes, but in that time she'd managed to change out of her uniform and cry endless tears.<p>

His hands clenched around the steering wheel as he watched her, moving towards her car, wiping a shaky hand against her flushed cheeks. _Not much longer,_ he told himself, not much longer until he could wipe away those tears himself.

Her car pulled off a few moments after she'd climbed inside and once a few seconds has passed, he pulled off in his simply ordinary car and followed.

They drove for fifteen minutes before she pulled up outside the Chicago Fire Department HQ. He parked a few cars behind hers and waited once more, as she walked quickly inside the busy building.

As he waited for her to return, his eyes intently watching the revolving doors, he thought about her. He remembered what she was wearing, dark jeans highlighting her stunning frame, a green sweater to keep out the cold, a black jacket that hugged her body. He wished he could hug her body.

He would soon.

He thought about how her hair was loose and curly, how her eyes glistened with sadness and how he wished to changed that, how her lips frowned. They would not frown when he kissed them.

He thought about the blonde and the black guy he had tied up in the basement. He guessed the drugs would be wearing off soon. It didn't matter, they were tied up. And no one could hear their yells. They're disappearance would keep the cops off his trail for a while. The firefighters too, they may not even notice she's missing for hours.

He was almost distracted by his thoughts of her and he nearly missed her coming out of the Fire Department. She climbed into her car once more, hugging pink papers to her chest as if they meant everything.

She pulled off, he assumed she was going home, she was heading in that direction. He followed. He knew a road that she would take, it was a quiet road. That's where he'd strike.

She turned onto that road. It was getting dark, but a few lights in houses of the street were turned on. He didn't have long.

He tightened his seatbelt and swerved the car, crashing into the back of hers and forcing it into a tree.

She remembers a fleeting pain in her head before she passed out.

He recovers from the impact for a moment before opening his car door. He walks towards her car. There was smoke coming from her engine, but his car was drivable. He opens her door. Her eyes are closed. There's blood on her forehead. He cuts the restraint of her seatbelt with the knife he brought. He slips his hands under her knees and back, cradling her unconscious body to his chest.

He feels her warm skin through the layers of their clothes. A rush of delight sears through him.

He hates that he must place her in the trunk, but it's the only way. He lays her down as gently as possible and her eyes do not flutter.

He kisses her hand before he closes the trunk. Sliding into his car once more he realises that he finally has her.

He's gone before the residents of the street can rush outside with their phones. They find an empty grey car crushed against a tree.

A phone rings on the passenger seat. A father of two who peeks inside as his wife calls the police looks at the flashing screen.

_Matt. 3 missed calls. _

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><p><strong><em>Antonio<em>**

From the almost frantic call I'd received from Matt, Peter Mills and Sylvie Brett, the newest EMT at 51, we're missing. Had been all day. They were taken from a scene. That's about as much as we have.

I told Matt to head to Lakeshore with the others after returning 81 to the firehouse. Boden's baby had been born, but was in the ICU. I had no new information on that either. Jay, Erin and I headed to Lakeshore whilst Voight and the others headed to the scene. Jay thought Anthony Lullo was involved and the possibility was great. He'd been on Mills' case after his son died in 61's ambo and being the dangerous man he was, he'd want revenge.

When we got to the Lakeshore, we were greeted with the scene of a room full of firefighters, a scene I'd seen so many times before. I scanned the room, noticing that Gabby was missing. I made a note to call her soon. She and Matt have had some problems lately.

"Any news?" Severide says as he rises from his seat after noticing our arrival. The others look up too. Worried.

I shake my head, "Voight's at the scene. Nothing yet."

Their faces fall, "We'll find them," I assure, yet if Lullo was involved I wasn't sure what state we'd find them in.

"That punkass gangster has to be involved, he thinks Mills killed his son," Joe Cruz said, removing his hands from his pockets and shaking them to make his point.

"Have you seen Lullo since the other day when he ruffled Mills up?" Jay asked no one in particular.

Matt, who was half focused and half not, looked up, "Chief said Lullo turned up before shift. Mills said he apologised for his behaviour."

Jay didn't give a reaction, but we knew that if Lullo was sure about his revenge on Mills, his apology was unlikely to be genuine. Jay only nodded, "I'll call Voight," he said as he walked out the room.

"How long have they been gone?" Erin asked.

A few of them shrugged, "Could be anything from six to eight hours ago. We aren't sure," Matt answered flatly. My eyes narrowed slightly at him, something was wrong.

"Okay," Erin nodded, "We'll take it from here... We'll find them," she assured them again before going to join Jay.

"Any news of Chief's baby and wife?"

Severide rubbed the back of his neck, "Donna's okay... No word on Terrence."

I can only nod because I had an awful feeling dawned over me and then I knew that this was only the beginning of it.

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><p>In the hour that we waited with 51 I found out that Gabby had gone home. 'Sick' Matt had said. Sick my ass. I tried calling her, but I got no answer. Matt had already called three times and got just as much as I did. Maybe she was sick and sleeping.<p>

After Jay called Voight he said that they'd be here in fifteen minutes. Almost an hour later and he still hadn't shown. Something was definitely wrong.

"You heard from Voight?" I asked Jay as he sat with Erin, murmuring quietly in the corner of the room. They both looked up and shook their heads, looking just as concerned as I felt.

I reached into my pocket for my cell when I heard multiple footsteps heading our way. A second later Voight and the others bar Olinsky turned into the room. His face gave nothing away. Everyone watched him and waited.

"Mills and Brett?" Cruz finally said after being tired of waiting for Voight to speak.

"No leads yet," he answered, but I could tell that there was more to say. Voight then looked specifically between Matt and I, and then I knew.

"Voight, what is it?" I demanded shakily.

He seemed to swallow before speaking again, "Gabriela is missing Antonio."

Matt flew to his feet, "What do you mean, missing? She went home-"

"Her car was forced off the road. Gabriela, and the car that hit her, wasn't at the scene," Voight answered solemnly and Matt, unable to do anything else, collapsed back into his seat and stared at his uncontrollably shaky hands.

The room seemed to come to the same worried and frightened conclusion, "Then whoever took Gabby took Mills and Brett too," I said and Matt, now able to react, stood up from his seat and stormed out of the room, eyes glassy with scared tears.

_My sister was injured and kidnapped, at best. At worst? I couldn't bare to think about the worst. _


	2. Worthy

**Hey everyone! **

**Thanks for the great response to the first chapter! I got this wrote for you all but I'm already so crazy and excited to write this story!**

**I hope you all like this chapter, the next one will be up in a few days as with 'It's never that simple.'**

**Love you guys!**

**oxoxo**

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><p><em><strong>Severide<strong>_

I wait for Voight to explain everything he knew before I leave to find Casey. Dawson. Missing. Car crash. Mills and Brett gone too. That's about all we knew. As much as anyone knew. But why would Lullo take Dawson? She had nothing to do with the kid's death. She wasn't even at the scene. Could Lullo even be involved?

I find Casey pacing back and forth a window, running his hands roughly through his hair. He grips his phone in one hand and his face is flushed and tear-stained. I worry as much as he does.

I put my hands on his shoulders to stop him pacing. He looks up at me with wide eyes before shrugging me off, "She's gotta be okay..." he mutters, returning to pacing. It was a trait I noticed he shared with Dawson.

"Casey, man stop pacing. Casey... Matt!" I call loudly after my failed attempts at getting him to hear me. Casey's head snaps up to look at me again, "She's missing Severide, _missing. _And she's no doubt injured. What the hell am I meant to do?!" He screeches, finally stopping his erratic movements.

Positioning myself against the wall I explain what Voight had said, "When Voight was where you found 61, he got a call about a car accident involving Dawson. Burgess recognised the car as Dawson's and called Voight. They know that she was hit off the road by another car, but her car took a lot of damage on the passenger side. Driver's side was relatively okay. They found a little blood that's Gabby's type, but not much else. The car who hit her was gone and they think whoever knocked her off the road took her. No one saw anything. That's all we know."

Casey digests this information before responding. His body seems to collapse into itself, his eyes show just how lost and scared he was. Despite whatever was going on between them, he loved her more than anything.

"Why would Lullo take her? She wasn't involved with his kids' death..." Casey murmurs quietly, rubbing his eyes dry.

"Maybe it wasn't Lullo."

"Then why take Mills and Brett?"

I don't answer. I don't have an answer. Truth was I was just as confused as him, "I don't know what's happened, but we should go back and see what they're planning to do."

He nods, but takes no action to return to the waiting room. His world was shattering around him and he couldn't stop it. Casey swallows thickly, "What can I do?"

I say the first thing that comes to mind, "Don't give up."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Dawson<strong>_

Ringing. Dull, continuous ringing in my ears.

I smelled the coppery scent of blood and the skin on my head felt sticky.

The floor was lumpy and soft. My hands couldn't move.

My eyes open just a sliver and standing above me, was a blurry male figure.

I heard voices call me, call my name over and over, voices I recognised but couldn't quite place.

The figure that stood above me leaned down. A quiet groan escaped my lips.

Something sharp pierced my arm and a second later, I was out.

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><p><em><strong>Antonio<strong>_

"Why the hell was she home? Why wasn't she at work? What the hell is going on with you two?!"

"What happened between us isn't relevant!"

"I'll say what's relevant and what isn't! My sister is missing and injured!"

"Don't you think I know that? I'm just as concerned as you!"

Voight finally got in between us, shoving a hand into my chest and one into Matt's. He doesn't flinch as Voight touches him, yet I half expected Matt to swing for him. "Knock it off, now. Do you to think Gabriela would want this? Huh?"

Matt backs down first, moving to sit on a chair beside Herrmann, shrugging Severide's hand off his arm. Jay finally lets me go.

"Now get you're heads into this or you'll both go home, you hear me? This is last thing we should be dealing with."

Voight gives us a moment before he speaks to the room again, "I've just gotten off the phone with Burgess. Lullo's got on a flight to New York at 8:30 this morning. What time did 61 get called out?"

Herrmann answered, "Between ten and half past this morning."

Ruzek responded, "He could have gotten a couple of his thugs to take Mills and this Brett girl."

"But why take Gabriela? And why fly to NY if you want revenge?" Atwater said.

"Atwater," Voight said, motioning to him, "I want a list of anyone who'd have a vendetta with Gabriela, Mills or Brett... Ruzek, I want CCTV within a 5 block radius of 61's location. Find me the car he took Mills and Brett in. Halstead, Erin," he turned to them and they looked up for their orders, "Get all you can from Gabriela's car and then trace her movements. I wanna know how this guy got to her."

Matt handed Erin the keys for their apartment and then they left, after Erin placed her hand over Matt's and said, "We'll find her."

Olinsky tapped Voight's arm, "I'll look into Lullo," he said as he left the room, clapping my shoulder as he went, toothpick in mouth.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked Voight. He turned towards me, pointed at Matt and said, "You two, with me."

* * *

><p>We walked to the emergency stair exit and stepped inside, Voight last, closing the green door behind us. Matt stood almost defensively, but his body oozed fear and not anger.<p>

"We need to know why Gabby left shift," Voight said voice that was as gentle as Voight was ever going to get, because he knew how fragile and how desperate Matt was in this moment, and he needed no aggravation.

Matt contemplates arguing, but then he sees that more yelling will get us nowhere, so he sighs and answers, "We got into an argument at shift. She asked to go home. I let her. We didn't speak afterwards, we were too angry and with Donna going into labour, and 61 missing... I didn't think to try to call her until we got here."

Voight nods and Matt rubs his face, exhaling forcefully, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"You gotta find her, please... you-" Matt begs desperately.

Voight looks at him with a fierce determination, "We will. I promise you."

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><p><em><strong>Severide<strong>_

Chief walks with a beaming smile into the waiting room just as Voight, Casey and Antonio rejoined us. Herrmann greets him with a hug, "How's the baby? Donna?"

"Both great," Chief splutters, "Terrence is stable and breathing well. They're gonna bring him to us soon. Donna's fine, tired and grumpy, but perfectly fine."

He's congratulated by all before he asks the question that everyone dreaded, "What's happened?" Chief asks, when he processes the grim feel in the room.

Casey slips out of the room just as Antonio began to explain, he couldn't hear it anymore. He couldn't hear anymore of Mills or Brett or Dawson, he couldn't hear more of how the person he loved more than anything was missing.

He was in the bathroom, throwing up.

I waited until he left the stall, looking pale and grim, and slowly approached the sinks to wash his hands and swill out his mouth.

"I don't care," he says suddenly and I stare incredulously at him.

"Matt? What the hell?"

He shakes his head, "Not like that. I don't care about me being Lt. and her being candidate. I don't care about the job. I need her Kelly, no matter what."

Heck, I couldn't say anything to that, "C'mere man," I mutter and wrap my arms around his shoulders, letting him recuperate in my arms.

"They're gonna find them. Mills, Brett, Dawson, they're gonna be okay..."

Casey nods slightly, but gives no more verbal reply.

When we make our way back the waiting room Mouch says that Chief has returned to Donna and Terrence, but to keep him updated. Everyone is still sat in their seats, worried and scared, murmuring quietly between themselves to not focus on the chaos around them.

Erin and Halstead are standing beside Voight and Antonio, talking in low hurried voices.

"What is it?" Casey questions quickly, nervous and wide-eyed.

Antonio frowns and is almost in tears, Erin answers, "We found a note and a memory stick in your mail box."

"The note?" Casey asks as he steps towards them, hands shaking as he takes the pink paper from Erin.

I stand beside him, "Transfer papers?" Casey murmurs vulnerable as he stares at the sheets in his hands. Erin nods, "Burgess spoke to CFD HQ, Gabby left your apartment and went there to ask for transfer papers. Her car was hit a few blocks from there."

Casey swallows thickly, forcing back tears. He was questioning whether she was transferring to fix things, or whether she was leaving him. I knew the answer, he feared the wrong one.

On the back of the paper was a scrawl that didn't belong to Dawson. It read, '_After everything, she still tries to fix things between you. Why you? What makes you so special? You don't deserve her and you never will Matthew Casey. She's better off with me and she will see that.'_

The papers fall from his hands as he punches the wall with a roar of anger, cracking the paint and plaster. I grab his shoulders and force him into a chair. He's breathing forcefully and his entire body is shaking with rage, "Matt, don't you let this asshole get to you, do you hear me? You know what he said isn't true, so Gabby needs you to stay focused for her, okay?"

"Okay," he grunts with a thick voice and I leave my hands on his shoulders as I look up at Erin, "The memory stick?"

She hesitates, but when Voight shrugs at her, telling her that now is as good a time as any, she pulls out a laptop from a black tech bag and places it on the table in front of us. We wait for her to load the memory stick and it's contents.

"Oh god," Matt mutters when the screen comes to life.

It was a video and dated in the corner it said 'March 14th 2014.' The video was of the inside of Molly's. Dawson sat at the counter, completely alone, working on her laptop. From the angle the video was taken, the camera must have been placed near the front door, possibly on the window sill. Curtains would have covered most of it from view.

_Dawson was typing quickly on her laptop, probably working on orders for Molly's or something. She was playing music, swaying and singing along to the words._

_"...Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs, with the boombox blaring as we're falling in love, got a bottle of whatever but it's getting us drunk, singing here's to never growing up__..." she sings along the beat as she brushes her wild curly hair from her face. _

_Her phone rings and she answers, "Hey Herrmann... yes, I'm placing the orders now, no, I do not need help... Hey! I've done this from day one, now you decide to offer help? Yeah yeah," she laughs, "you run this place, sure thing... Honestly I am fi__ne, yes I'm here all alone but there are no lions, tigers and bears here in Chicago Herrmann so I should be okay," she teases him lightly, "Anyway, thanks for checking up on me. Okay, give my love to Cindy and the kids. Sure thing. Bye Herrmann..."_

_She places the phone beside her laptop and continues singing, this time to a new song, "If you look back in history, it's a common double standard of society, the guy gets all the glory the more he can score, while the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore..."_

_The front door opens and Dawson spins quickly in her chair, her face confused at first but then it lights up as she smiles. "Well look what the cat dragged in," she teased as Casey approached her, dressed in his construction clothes, "You finished early."_

_Casey shrugs as he wraps his arms around her waist and kisses her, "Easy job, you still working on the orders?"_

_Dawson nodded against his chest, "Yes. It's taking forever."_

_Casey laughs, "If you'd stop singing and actually place the orders, I'm sure it'll get done much faster."_

_She slaps his chest lightly, "It's boring. Music helps with boredom. Proven fact."_

_"Okay, okay, sssh," Casey chuckles as he presses his lips against hers again, "Don't start rambling off facts again. I promise to keep my mouth shut."_

_Dawson raises her brows and makes a 'pfft' sound with her lips, "Not in your life Matthew Casey."_

_Casey, who's back was now to the camera, takes a seat next to her and she turns her body to face him, her eyes glistening as she gazed at him, "That statement applies to you more than me."_

_"I beg to differ."_

_"Then beg."_

_"Not my style."_

_She raises her brows once more as she focuses on the laptop screen, "There, done. I'm going home." She collects up her laptop and phone, placing one under her arm and the other in her pocket, sauntering towards the door with a wicked smile on her face, "All alone... Maybe I should call that hot blonde I work with."_

_Casey quickly rises from his chair and heads towards Dawson, easily sweeping her up off her feet and into his arms bridal style, her squealing at the sudden action. "I thank you for the compliment," Casey grins. _

_Dawson rolls her eyes, "Don't get your hopes up loverboy, I was talking about Shay."_

_"Liar."_

As they left Molly's with Dawson laughing the camera went dark, the screen was suddenly filled with the words, _'I have watched her months and fallen in love with every smile, every laugh, every tear, and you, Matthew Casey, are not worthy of her.'_

Casey, shaky, stunned, angered and fearful, calmed his rage enough to say through gritted teeth, "I think it's safe to say that Lullo isn't involved."

Everyone in the room came to the same conclusion and so Otis voiced our next thoughts, "Then who has them?"


	3. Taunt

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**Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I'm so glad that you're all interested in this story!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**xoxoxo**

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><p><em><strong>Mills<strong>_

It was some sort of side room in an old warehouse, that much I could tell. But it hadn't been in use for a long while, perhaps only by squatters, so the air was cold yet stuffy, a stale smell filling my nostrils when I breathed.

I heard a sniffle to my side.

Turning my head slowly as it was still fuzzy from the drugs the bastard had given us, I noticed that Brett was crying again, "Brett?"

She sniffled once more and looked up at the sound of my voice, her body tied to an old wooden chair in the same fashion as me. Hands bound to the wooden arms, legs tied to the chair legs.

"She's really still," is all that she says, glancing her puffy eyes over to the opposite corner of the room, around ten feet away from us.

"Gabby's breathing, look. She's okay," I reply, trying to calm her, but in truth I was just as worried too. Gabby lay, still and unconscious from her own dose of whatever drug, sprawled across a new looking mattress, hands tied to a pipe that ran along the wall it was pressed against.

He'd brought her in around an hour ago, or at least I thought it was that long ago. She had a cut on her head and blood on her face, and she had made muffled noises, as if she was hurt or dazed. He had lain her down on the mattress that was already waiting for her, bound her hands and the moment she showed a sign on consciousness with a groan, he injected her arm.

He had paid little attention to Brett and I, despite the fact that we were calling Gabby and shouting at him. He simply gave us both a once over and left the room, locking the large metal door behind him.

Brett was upset and shaken, but okay, still a little hazy from the drugs, but physically fine. She'd freaked out when we had woken up, bound, in darkness and shivering cold, but after catching my own bearings and trying to calm her down, she eventually had.

"Why us three?" Brett asked, voicing the question I wanted answers to aswell, "What do we three have in common? I've just moved here and if this is to do with Lullo, then why Gabby? She wasn't involved..." Brett trailed off, sniffing once more, her eyes dancing with confusion and fear.

"I don't think it has anything to do with Lullo," I murmur quietly, unable to give a decent answer because I didn't have one, "This guy doesn't seem the type to hang around with him."

Brett shakes her head, more confusion etching itself into her face, "He held us at gunpoint Mills, sounds like something a gangster would do," she answered blankly.

"Gabby wasn't involved in that," is all I can say, because there was a point to her words.

"He couldn't have taken her from shift, she's not in her uniform. Why would she be off shift?"

I shrug slightly, "Maybe she was sick..." I mumble, _what must Casey be thinking? Why the hell was I thinking about Casey? He must be so worried about her... About us. Everyone must be. _

Brett takes a deep breath and tries to stretch out her fingers to reach mine. I meet her half way, but I'm only able to interlock my pinky with her pinky and ring finger. But it was enough. It was comfort.

"Mills, are we gonna be okay?" She asks almost timidly, her voice quieting with every syllable.

"They're definitely looking for us..." I answer.

Brett moves to ask me again, but when she looks into my eyes and realises the answer, she quieted, and we both take to staring at Gabby's limp figure on the mattress.

_I don't know Brett._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Halstead<strong>_

"You know how I always say that I get feelings about cases?... This doesn't feel good Erin, not at all," I say as I hold on to the door handle as Erin cuts a corner too quick.

"We can't talk like that, not when there are people we know involved," Erin answers never taking her eyes off the road.

"Antonio, Casey, 51, couldn't imagine being anyone of those right now," I mutter as she takes the familiar route to Molly's.

"And us, we know them too Jay... You were involved with Gabby..."

I shake my head and turn to look out the window, "Yeah but that was over a year ago and just...besides..." I trail off, not knowing what to say.

"We're gonna find them Jay. She's going to be okay," Erin assures as if she knew what I was thinking.

"It's not like that-"

"I know," she says with a strong voice, "But she's your friend. _They _are _our _friends. It's okay to show you're worried Jay, we all are."

I pause for a moment, realising how right she was. Funny thing was, she usually was always right. That got annoying sometimes.

"Voight doesn't seem worried," I comment after a few seconds.

Erin swallows thickly, "Trust me," she answers quietly, "He's worried."

We pull up outside Molly's and Erin uses the keys we borrowed from Otis to unlock the door. Granted, finding the camera was a long shot, but we had to at least try. This was three of our friends lives at stake here. Erin quickly moves to the window sill where the camera was filmed from and nothing.

She sighs, "At least we know he's been here a few times."

I shrug and glance around the place that we spent so much time in. It seemed different in the day time, without the lights and music and people, almost lonely.

Then the door to the bar opened and in stepped a boy, no older than eleven or twelve. We stared at him, wondering if he was in the right place.

"You lost bud?" I ask him. He was tall for his age, dark-haired and pale skinned, wrapped up in thick jacket and hat.

"You cops?" He said, ignoring my question.

Erin stared at him confused before taking a step closer to him, "Yes we are," she said, showing her badge as proof.

The kid looked and appearing happy with it, nodded, "The guy said to give this to you. Gave me twenty bucks just to follow you guys in here."

"What guy?" I asked hurriedly as Erin rushed out the door, one hand on her holster.

The boy shrugged, "Don't know. He used his hood to cover his face."

I took the envelope from the boy, "Tell me exactly what happened kid..."

"He came up to me and said that he'd give me twenty bucks to come here and give the cops this envelope. He said to wait five minutes once he'd left before I came here. Didn't say anything else."

From this I knew that Erin would find nothing outside.

"Okay kid, take this," I said, pulling out my pad and pen, "Write down your name and details for me."

The boy shrugged again, hopelessly naïve to the situation and in all honestly, it was probably better that he was. I stared down at the blank envelope in my hands and ripped open the flimsy paper. Inside I found two photos.

One was dated from mid April this year, it was of Gabby and Casey, sat in a booth at a diner. The photo was taken from outside the diner and it was clear that it had been zoomed in. But I could tell that Casey was smiling and Gabby had her head thrown back in laughter, like she was laughing at something that Casey had said.

The second photo was even more disturbing. It was off Gabby, sprawled inside what appeared to be the trunk of a car. She was unconscious and half her face was splattered with blood from a wound at the top of her head.

"Oh god," Erin murmured beside me. I hadn't noticed her come back in.

"He's taunting us with these photos of her," is what I manage to reply.

"But what about Mills and Brett? What does it mean if he sends no photos of them?"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

"Look guys, I understand that this is hard, but if you can think of anyone that would want to hurt Mills, Brett or Dawson, it could really help," Atwater says with his low gravelly voice.

I tried to focus on his voice, tried to focus on the words and their meanings, but I was failing in any attempt to think of useful information because as I could think about was Gabby.

_Was she okay? At least to some degree? _No she was definitely not okay, I knew Gabby and I knew that although she'd put on a strong, defiant, seemingly unbreakable front, she'd be scared, shaky, vulnerable, frightened. I couldn't bare to think of her that way, not without me there to make sure that she was safe, protected and secure. I was scared of losing her, scared of living without her because I was nothing without her.

Gabby had always been the light inside me, no matter if I knew it or not. The moment I met her, all fresh-faced and nervous yet hard-headed and determined on her very first day at 51, Gabby had lit a flame inside of me that I hadn't known could be lit. And when we finally came to our senses, I became aware of this light. A light she kept going with her roaring flame and hot passion, her stubbornness, her hardheaded nature, her laughs and smiles and everything about her. Gabby was this light, Gabby was a part of me that I could never lose and the woman who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

"Casey?" I heard Kelly say as he shook my shoulder lightly.

I look up from my hands, "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Atwater asked if Gabby's had any strange phone calls or letters recently?"

I turned my head to Atwater who sat looking at me and I shook my head, "No, nothing that she told me about... And I haven't noticed anything like that," I mutter, running my hands through my hair.

Before he can answer I say, "What do you think has happened to them? What's happening to her?"

It was if the room's breaths hitched as I asked the questions in everyone's mind. Atwater sighed and shook his heads, "Casey, we just have no way of knowing..."

His words churned my stomach and I hurled myself to my feet, "I can't listen to this..." I exclaim as I throw myself from the room, brushing past Olinsky on the way.

But he grabbed my arm as I practically shoved him out of the way, "Hey Casey, you're gonna wanna listen to this."

I stop in my tracks and see that he and Ruzek were heading into the room I just rushed out of, and so I quickly followed them, hoping that whatever they were going to say would take us a step closer to finding Mills, Brett and Gabby.

"What is it Ruzek?" Atwater asks, standing to meet his partners.

Ruzek seemed confident with his words, "I think I've found the car he used to take Gabby... It's a rental with GPS."

A flash of hope darted through my body, "Do you have a location?"

He nodded, "Voight and Antonio are headed there now."

I stride up to him and say with a tone that resonated no argument, "Take me there."


	4. Missing Three

**Hey guys!**

**I hope you all had an incredibly wonderful Christmas with your families! I know I did! **

**So I apologise for the delay in this new chapter, I've been so busy over the last week sorry!**

**Thank you all for the amazing support for this story and for myself, I'm so very grateful for you all!**

**As much as I know this isn't a cheery fic, I hope you do enjoy reading this chapter. There aren't any huge developements, but you'll see the events of the day catch up to a few of our characters in this chapter!**

**Happy holidays all!**

**oxoxox**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Cruz <strong>_

Ruzek can't, or more like won't, argue with Casey, so only moments after Casey's demand did Ruzek and he rush out the door, Ruzek having to stress to keep up with our Lieutenant, whose feet barely touched the floor as he raced out of the room. We sit in the waiting room unknowing what to do with ourselves. Herrmann arrives back from talking to Chief who had instructed us to go home, get some rest, clear our heads. _Impossible._

But we couldn't do that. We needed to be together right now. Our family needed to be together. We were missing three of our own, the rest of us had to stick together.

After a while of us just sitting there in a morbid silence, Herrmann clasps his hands to his knees as he rises from his seat, "I don't know about you guys but I need a drink. Molly's?" He suggests, his face weary and exhausted. I wondered why he didn't go home to Cindy, but then maybe he thought that he had to be here for us. Herrmann was always secretly protective and that. Besides, he'd stop by home soon enough I was sure.

Since this was about the best offer we were gonna get, everyone nodded and followed his lead. I couldn't think about being alone in my apartment, not after today, I needed to be around people who knew how I was feeling, knew what I was thinking, knew the same fear that seeped through my body as it did theirs.

Atwater, Otis, Mouch, Capp, Severide, Herrmann and I end up at Molly's, nursing whiskey or beer, sitting in almost silence except for Herrmann's and Otis' muttering. It was strange not seeing Dawson behind the bar, she was nearly always there, hitting Otis with a wash cloth or laughing at a flustered Herrmann for being too flustered, or kicking out the latest troublemaker because, for some reason, no one argued twice with Dawson. She was kick ass like that.

I thought of Dawson taking Brett under her wing then, which opened up my train of thought over the woman I had been trying not to think about all day.

_Brett..._

How must she be? Is she okay? Stupid question I know, but _physically_, was she okay? A shiver flashed down my spine when I thought of her hurt, afraid and scared, unknowing as to what was happening to her. I found myself staring at the spot where she had agreed to go on a date with me, smiling her sweet smile at me as she spoke. That night I realised how not only was I attracted to her phyiscally, but how I was attracted to wonderful personality, her smile, her.

It was hard to think about Mills too. The unknowing of what was happening to him, of even if something was happening. Were they still alive? Mills was a tough guy and a part of me knew that he'd try to protect both Brett and Dawson, but there was only so much a guy could take.

And Dawson - I flinched at thinking of what was happening to her. She was clearly a high motivation for whatever was happening, this was only proved by the note and memory stick, and so if she was the prime target then what did it mean for her? Was she okay? I couldn't imagine being Casey right now... What the hell must he thinking?

I looked up at stared at my brothers around me and I could tell just by looking into their eyes that their thoughts mirrored my own. They were worried for our brother and our sisters.

We couldn't lose anyone else.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Casey<strong>_

I could barely stop my stomach from lurching as we drove to the rental car. It wasn't from Ruzek's driving either, which admittedly wasn't grand, it was from the crippling fear that was overwhelming my body. Seeping into my breaths, curling around my heart, drowning my lungs, clutching at my mind with its sharp claws...

_I couldn't lose her. _

I just couldn't. There was simply no argument about it, losing Gabby would... Thinking of life without her was hard enough, I couldn't bare the thought. It was incomprehendable. My life does not exist without her. Gabby is me. Despite everything that had happened, I knew that she loved me and that I loved her. Love was never our problem. But that doesn't matter right now, all that matters is that she is safe and Mills is safe and Brett is safe. _Safe. _

But in reality, how safe were they? Not enough.

Ruzek had barely stopped the car before I lunged from it, quickly spotting Antonio through the sea of police officers and blaring sirens. I rush over to him, finding that he's standing with Voight and Kim Burgess and her partner that I recognised from Molly's, but didn't know by name.

"Did you find anything?" I asked hurriedly when I reach the small crowd, eyes wide as I scanned the dark green Sudan in front of me.

Antonio nods slowly and exhales deeply as he cups my arm with his hand, "Found a little blood... Tech's say it's Gabby's type..." he says and I almost lose whatever composure I had right then, my entire body freezing ice cold.

"Anything else?" Slips from my clenched mouth, the words sounding strange and causing physical pain as I spoke them.

Antonio's eyes flashed over to Voight, who was holding an evidence bag. Voight stepped forward and held the bag closer to my face, "Is this Gabriela's?" he questions, gesturing to the necklace inside the plastic bag.

_No..._

The word echoed in my mind but apparently resonated in reality, and so a flash of something skittered across the older man's face at the word I spoke without realisation.

I quickly explain, "It's Shay's... when she died, Gabby started wearing it - to remember her. She hasn't taken it off since she first put it on. It's Gabby's way of keeping Shay close to her," and as I spoke the words I remember the day that Kelly had given her the necklace. It was the day after Shay's funeral.

_"Severide, I can't-" Gabby argued weakly, her voice hoarse from sobbing, as she shook her hands at his hunched, fragile body._

_He offered his hand once more, his face begging and his eyes threatening to release more tears, "Please Dawson, keep her close. She wouldn't want it going anywhere but to you..."_

_Gabby can't argue with this and as Kelly's drops the necklace into her palm, her fingers curl tightly around it, as if she was trying to stop Shay's aura from escaping. _

_Later that night, long after Kelly had left despite our protests, I found Gabby sitting on the bed, staring down at the jewelry in her palm. Tears slipped down her face, falling as droplets from her jaw to her hands, quiet whimpers escaping despite her attempts to swallow them. _

_I walk over slowly, dropping onto the bed beside her and placing my hand over her spare one. Her fingers instantly intertwine with mine, squeezing tightly. _

_"I don't know how I can do this without her Matt," she whispers vulnerably, her voice cracking as emotion overwhelms her. I pull her into my side, arm wrapped securely around her body as she cried into my shoulder. My heart breaks at her sobs and my heart breaks for Shay. _

_I cry too. _

_I take the necklace from her palm and brush her hair from Gabby's damp face, "Severide's right, Shay would want you to wear this..." I murmur as I take the jewelry and clasp it into place, kissing the base of her neck once it was secure. _

_I then turn Gabby's body to face me once more and as I reach up to wipe her tears away, I find that she is doing the same to me also, "Shay's always going to be here, no matter what..." Then I pull Gabby's shaking body into mine again and hold her as her heart continues to break, how the ache of losing Shay only worsens, how the loss we feel will never cease._

_"I miss her," Gabby cries into my neck, grasping tightly at my skin to keep me close, as if she was scared of losing me too._

_"I do too," I murmur back, "I miss her too baby..."_

"So Gabby would have been wearing this when she was taken?" Ruzek asks, snapping me out of my train of thought. Their eyes seem to lock onto me, lock onto my every word as I replied.

"Yes. She never takes it off," I confirm once more, finding myself having to wipe my wet eyes.

Another breath of fog escapes Antonio as he exhales firmly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought, "So what now?" He asks as he turns to Voight.

Voight doesn't miss a beat, "Ruzek, Burgess, Roman, I want a sketch of this S.O.B from the rental company. CCTV too, if there's any," he instructs. A moment later, they were heading to Burgess' patrol car.

"Where do we go now?" I question once the patrol car had pulled off.

"You, go home. There's nothing more you can do here Casey..." I barely let Voight finish before I started yelling.

"You expect me to go home when Gabby's out there, having God's knows what done to her by whoever is bastard is?!"

Antonio steps forward and pushes his hands on my chest, stopping me from getting into Voight's face, "He's right Casey. You need rest. You need to be on your game when we find them, okay?"

I look down at Antonio and it hit me how it hurt to look at him, Gabby and he was so alike it was striking, "Antonio, I just... can't rest when she's out there..." I whisper weepingly and all Antonio does is nod.

"I know Matt... Come on, we'll take you home. I'll call Severide, get him to meet us there."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Severide<strong>_

I pull up at the apartment just in time as Casey, Antonio and Voight arrives. Voight stays in the SUV, watching as Antonio walks beside Casey, who I couldn't tell if he was on the brink of breaking down or hitting something. Perhaps it was both.

"Try to get him to rest, we'll call as soon as we hear anything," Antonio says more to Matt than me, yet he looked at me as he spoke. I noticed how run down he looked, almost as bad as Casey. Well, his sister was missing after all. I only knew what that felt like. Hell.

I nod and swing open the front door, watching as Casey cautiously steps inside, Antonio only leaving after I've almost closed the front door behind me. Casey shuffles in slowly, his feet barely making it off the floor. I doubted his pace was down to exhausation, despite how tired I knew he must be, but down to the realisation that this was one the last places Dawson was before she rushed out the door and headed to the CFD.

I wondered what he must be feeling, then I realised I didn't want to know. Casey must know that Dawson went to the CFD to get a transfer to try to fix the tension between them, heck it had been hard on them lately. They couldn't cut a break. So knowing that Dawson was intent on not giving up on them, it must hurt Casey like hell to know that she was taken in the midst of trying to make things better for them.

He spots a glass of water on the kitchen counter, Dawson's, no doubt. Her bagpack is slumped up against the sofa, he spots this too and his face crumples.

I watch as Casey makes his way to the sofa and reluctantly sits down, unable to relax into the cushions of the sofa. I put the coffeee machine on, I guessed we'd need it.

"I'll be right back," I mutter as I head to the bathroom, noticing how he simply blinks at my words as he stared blankly at the water glass.

I was unlocking the bathroom door when I heard something smash and then a grunt and then a bang. I rush into the living room, Casey's knocked the glass from the table and into the wall, where he has rose and is currently hitting the wall madly with his fist, screaming with pure rage as he does so.

Running over to him I yell, "Casey, man! Stop it! Casey!" and encase his body with my arms, moving him so he no longer has access to the wall. I'm unsure whether he's crying or panting angrily until he sinks to the floor, clutching his hands to his face, finally able to hear the sobs through his muffled mouth.

He buries his head into his knees as the fear, pain, anger, loss and sorrow of the day finally catches up with him, finally enstilling itself into his body. Kneeling down beside him I put my arm around his shoulder, pulling him to my chest.

"What can I do? She's... Kelly she's..." Casey cries almost incoherantly, too afraid to add any word onto the end of the sentence because it either hurt too much or he was afraid of the word. Suddenly he pulls his head out of my chest and mutters, "Sorry, it's fine... You don't-"

"Matt," I tell him seriously, "I'm not going anywhere."

He then nods and another wave of tears wrack through his body, and I sat there and comforted him, finding some comfort for myself too.


	5. Stalker

**Hey everyone!**

**I got this chapter written for you all so here's another update! I hope you enjoy!**

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**oxoxox**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Severide<em>**

After Casey had calmed down enough, he fell asleep on the sofa with his arms wrapped tightly around himself. I sighed slowly, I had no idea what to do or say to him, but I guessed just being here was as good as anything right now. I sat in the armchair beside the sofa with no intention of falling asleep but inevitably did, the events of the day finally catching up with me.

It was three hours later when I got a call from Antonio asking me to return to Molly's and to bring Casey. It was almost 9pm, but when I stirred Casey and told him what Antonio had asked, he sprang from the sofa and towards the door without a second to waste. When we got to Molly's, it was empty apart from members of 51 and Voight, Antonio, Erin and Halstead.

Antonio takes in Casey's gaunt face and wraps his arms around his body, Casey struggling to react to Antonio. I saw the look on his face and instantly knew what he was thinking, Dawson and her brother were so alike that Casey only had to look at Antonio and see his fiancee in his features.

Then Erin approaches Casey and places her hand on his arm, "Casey, there's something we need to show you..." she says quietly, and the murmuring of the guys behind her ceased, as they seemingly knew what was coming, "Whoever took them got a kid to give this to us."

Casey nods his head slowly, his face blank as he approaches the bar and slumps into a stool, rubbing his hands against his face to prepare for what was coming. Erin reaches into her jacket and pulls out a ripped envelope. Casey watches as she pulls out photographs from inside and I watch as Casey's face pales, how his eyes swell with fear.

Voight and Antonio stand with Halstead, the latter propped up against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. Antonio is shuffling his weight from foot to foot nervously and Voight has one eye on Antonio's movements and another on Casey's face, watching silently. The guys watch Casey anxiously, the expressions on their faces showing me how badly they expected Casey to react.

I look over Casey's shoulder as he takes the photos from Erin. The first, a photo of Dawson and him at diner clearly taken from across the street. Casey was smiling at Dawson as she threw her head back with laughter, her eyes glistening with happiness. The second photo and the one that made Casey lose his cool, was a photo of Dawson in the trunk of a car, unconscious, with half her face painted with crimson blood.

There was a pause as he took in the photo with no obvious outward reaction to what he was seeing, but after that second of eery silence had passed Casey violently rose from the stool, knocking it to the ground, and took a glass of beer that had been sitting on the bar, and smashed it against the wall with a loud yell.

Everyone seems to lurch forward towards him before he completely loses it, and Halstead and I get to him just after he's punched the wall once and stop him from doing it again. He fights against our grip but he's too tired, too angry and too afraid to think clear enough to escape from our hold on him.

"Dammit Matt, you know this doesn't solve anything! It didn't solve it earlier and it won't solve it now. Calm down man, this bastard isn't going to get what he wants you hear? He won't get her. I promise you that," I tell him as I shake his arms to make him listen to me.

Casey glares angrily at me as Halstead finally deems it safe to let him go, "Get what he wants? Kelly he already has her! He has Brett and Mills too! You think he doesn't have what he wants? Of course he does because he's sending these fucking pictures and he's getting a real kick out of doing this! This bastard has been stalking Gabby for months-"

His words cut off sharply, his breathing heavy as his eyes widen with a sudden realisation, "Stalked," he repeats again, and I can practically see the clogs turning in his head.

"Matt, what is it?" Antonio asks as he steps forward, seeing that Matt's stumbled across something in his head.

"A couple months ago, just before Jones died, Gabby thought she was being stalked by this guy from Main," Casey explains with the rage increasing in his voice as he continued to speak. To Casey he'd just realised who had Dawson, Mills and Brett.

"Yeah," I answer, "I remember you talking about it..."

"Ramsey. He was called Ramsey," Casey says to Antonio and Voight, his teeth gritted with rage.

Then Ruzek bursts through the door of Molly's clutching white paper in his hands, "Rental company gave me CCTV of the guy who rented the Sudan. I've got his picture. Facial recognition identifies him as Victor Ramsey, works for the CECC. He's a dispatcher."

Casey rushes over and snatches the paper from him, staring at the photo in his hands. A moment later he holds up the paper with a murderous look in his eye.

"That's him. That's who was stalking Gabby."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Brett<em>**

"Looks like Gabby fought him," I mutter after scanning her unconscious form for the umpteenth time as it was the only thing keeping me sane, focusing on Gabby. Focusing on her injuries, how they should be treated and so on... Anything to distract me from this dark, dismal room.

Mills nodded, we were both okay, a little fuzzy from being knocked out, but physically okay. But I couldn't stop my body from shaking and despite it being cold in here, my quaking had nothing to do with the temperature.

"She looks okay though, that's the main thing..." he trails off, his voice hushing to a mere whisper.

"She should wake up soon, right?" I ask because it seemed as if a lot of time had passed, but I couldn't be sure. This room had no windows.

He nods once more, "Yeah, it's a been a while."

Then I ask the question that had been on a mind since the guy pulled up at our ambo all those hours ago, "Do you know who he is? I mean... do you recognise him? Because I don't."

Moments pass before Mills answers, "I don't think so... I don't... I don't think I've seen him before."

"Why the hesistation?"

He seemed to be fighting with something in his head, "I've just got a feeling... Like he's not some stranger, at least not to Gabby. He definitely knows her."

Realisation dawns on me, "This isn't about us, is it Mills? We get hard old chairs and Gabby gets a new mattress, and he seemed as if he almost..._cared _for her when he brought her in. It's not us he wants."

Mills finally turns to look at me with a sympathetic look in his eye, he'd already figured this out a long while ago, "We're a diversion Sylvie, it's not us he's interested in."

"Will we be okay?" I ask hurriedly, if this was the case, then how long would he leave Mills and I alone? Would he let us go or...?

He nods determinedly and then says, "I don't think he wants to hurt us Sylvie..." in a quiet mumble, his gaze returning to Gabby once more.

_He doesn't want to hurt us, but Gabby..._

As this thought crosses my mind I hear a groan coming from the opposite side of the room. It's Gabby, she's finally stirring. Another groan escapes her and her brows crease, her body squirming with sudden consciousness.

She tries to move her hands, but their secured above her as she lay her side, arms pulled above her head. Drunk with drug-induced sleep she pulls roughly on the ties that bound her, pulling harder when she finds she can't free herself.

"Gabby, it's okay... It's Mills, and Sylvie, Gabby..." Mills says as he tries to catch her attention, talking in the calmest voice he could manage.

Finally she opens her eyes and they widen with fear, as it dawned on her where she was. She sees Mills and I bound to chairs, her breathing heavy with shock, and manages to lift herself up into a sitting position quickly, pulling as hard as she could on the pipe that she was tied to.

"Gabby, stop it, hey Gabs, you'll hurt yourself!" Mills calls as she tugs so violently that the plastic ties dug into her skin and caused it to bleed.

Breathing heavy and tears running down her frightened face, she turns to us, her body shaking and asks, "What's happening to us?"

"I don't know," Mills answers as honestly as he can with a slow and steady voice. A sob wrecks through Gabby's body at his answer, "Gabby, what happened to you?"

Gabby tries to gather her thoughts and remember, "...I was driving, I think... A car crashed into mine. I passed out..." she stammers as her memory comes back to her, as she tries to put the pieces.

"So that head injury isn't from fighting him. He knocked her off the road," I murmur quietly to Mills who nods, Gabby unaware of our talking as she's focused on remembering.

"Gabby," Mills asks her again, "Did they know we were missing?"

Her head snaps up to look at us and she shakes it, "Not when I left... I... Matt and I... I went home, we thought you had been called elsewhere... My brother, Antonio will be looking for us..."

She wasn't thinking clearly, nor was she was making much sense to Mills and I, but I guessed that was just from her injury and whatever drug our captor had given her. I wondered what happened between her and Matt, but right now she was in no state to answer many questions... And I didn't want to upset her anymore than she was already.

Mills nods and soothes quietly, "Yes, Antonio will be looking for us Gabby, we'll be okay..."

Another sob escapes her lips, "Why take us?" Gabby questions vulnerably, her voice timid and nervous.

Mills and I were pretty sure on what was going on, but I didn't think now was the right time to explain to her that we were a diversion and that she was the main target, and Mills seemed to agree with me.

"We don't know," I murmur to her, "We don't know who he is."

"Describe him."

Mills scrunches his face up at her in confusion, but I answer her anyway, "Tall. White. Really skinny. Um, dark hair. He came across as weird, he-"

Gabby seems to look as if she's realised something, "Did he talk with a stammer?"

"Yeah," Mills answers with even more confusion, "How did you know?"

Gabby's face oozes with disgust and fear, "I know who he is..." she answers before looking to the door and yelling, "Victor Ramsey! I know it's you! Ramsey you get your sorry ass in here!"

"Gabby!" Mills hisses at her.

There's a shuffling behind the door. The lock clicks. It begins to open.

A figure steps inside.


	6. Dead Ends

**Hey everyone!**

**I am terribly sorry for such the delay on this new chapter. I haven't had much time at all to write, school has just been so hectic for me and right now I'm struggling to find a good balance between all aspects of my life. But I am still so sorry for the delay; I promise I'll keep trying to get these chapters up sooner to you all.**

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**Love Hannah.**

**oxoxox**

* * *

><strong><em>Mills<br>_**

"Gabriela, you're up..." The voice noted with a calm tone that hinted at being excited at the sight of her.

As the figure, Ramsey, took a good look at her, I did too. Gabby was flushed and her eyes were red, puffy, highlighting that she must have been crying before Ramsey took her. She stared, angrily, determinedly at Ramsey as he stepped inside the room, her nose crinkling with contempt for him. Her shirt was ruffled from her ordeal and her jeans clung to her shivering body. She sneered at Ramsey as he approached, showing much more anger than fear, but that was Gabby. She wasn't going to let him see her afraid, despite how much she was.

As she pressed her body ever so slightly further into the grey stone wall, her hands bound to her side, she growled, "You son of a bitch. Ramsey, you bastard! I believed you! I believed you when you said you weren't a creep!"

Ramsey swallowed up her words before rushing forward and slapping her so hard that the sound vibrated through the room. Her head flung to the side due to the force, her messy hair drooping to cover her face.

"Get off her! Don't you touch her! You bastard!" I scream at him, fighting against my bounds, but he didn't seem to care. He didn't even glance at me.

Gabby, after a many seconds pause, exhaled slowly as she lifted her head to face him once more. Her cheek was an angry red, but she did not show her pain. She continued to stare angrily at him and her jaw appeared to be clenched tightly, as if she was holding her tongue.

"You'll learn not to speak to me in that way," Ramsey eventually said, and he seemed to be holding himself back, his voice strained as he fought with himself to remain calm.

Gabby clicked her jaw before sneered with her brows raised, "Go to hell."

I had no idea what Gabby was doing, antagonising him like this, but she was doing a damn good job of it. I yelled out for her to stop but neither Gabby or Ramsey acknowledged my calls. They were engaged in a silent battle of wills, Gabby glaring up at him with a stern look in her eye, Ramsey staring down at her as he deliberated what to do. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears and my stomach twisted with a sinking feeling, and just when I realised what was happening, I felt Brett outstretch her hand as much as she could, and curl her fingers around mine as a cry escaped her lips.

Ramsey had knelt down and swiftly curled his fist and knocked it against Gabby's jaw. She grunted, but didn't have time to catch her breath before Ramsey had stood with a fistful of her hair in his hand, and kicked her forcefully in the stomach. She cried out, her eyes clenching closed tightly with pain, and I yelled and screamed at him, but my voice fell on deaf ears. He continued his beating with a few more punches until, panting and overwhelmed, he stopped, knelt down and pressed a kiss to Gabby's flushed head. Despite her injuries, Gabby flinched and muttered weakly, "Don't touch me," her words strained with pain.

As he turned away from her he said, with a patient tone, "You'll learn."

As he passed by Brett and I, the former who I could feel was shaking and sobbing, I spat at his feet, "I swear to God they're gonna kill you. When they find us, you'll be lucky if they let you off easy with a bullet in your head, you fucking son of a bitch."

Ramsey appeared exhausted from the beating he had inflicted on a now dazed Gabby, but even so he managed to smirk at me, "When they find you? It's been hours, where are they then, huh?"

Satisfied and smug, he shuffled out the room and locked the large door behind him.

The first thing that struck me was the smell of blood, the second was Gabby's strained breathing and the third was Brett's calling to her, but finding no reply.

"Gabby, can you hear me? Gabby, oh god Gabby..." Brett called worriedly, her voice quaking as she spoke.

Gabby lay strewn across the mattress, her breathing jagged and her body already bruising from Ramsey's fists. The skin on her mocha arms were already blotching with angry red patches, one hand print clearly visible on her left arm. Ramsey, either intentionally or unintentionally, had managed not to hit Gabby's eyes, but a large mark on her jaw indicated that her face hadn't escaped injury. From her hitched breathing it was clear that either her ribs were broken or at least cracked, down to the forceful foot that had come into contact with her chest.

My fists unconsciously clenched at the sight of her, full of rage and want to be let free to lay my anger into Ramsey's fist.

Brett continued to call out to Gabby and after a few minutes of painful waiting, did she let out a groan and a cough. As consciousness crept back into her, the force of Ramsey's beating must have hit home as her face screwed up with pain.

"I'm okay," she whispered weakly with barely any tone to her voice at all. I watched as she tried to lift herself up and I spoke for the first time since Ramsey had left.

"Gabby stop!" I warned, "Rest. There's no need for you to move."

I expected her to give a smart-assed reply, a roll of her eyes or even a huff of annoyance as Gabby would have thought my words to be condescending, but she only listened, and lay still on the mattress.

"You lied to me earlier," Gabby muttered with a hiss as she exhaled evidence of the pain in her chest.

Even through half opened eyes she saw the looks of confused on Brett and mine's faces, so she elaborated, "When I asked 'why us?' you knew..."

Realisation dawned on us and Brett was first to reply, "We didn't want to scare you more than you already were-"

Smiling weakly, Gabby interrupted, "I know Sylvie... I'm not mad... I get it... This is good though..."

My body heated with even more rage, this time directed at her complacency and blasé words, "How the hell is this good Gabby? Look at you."

With strong determined eyes she looked between Brett and me before answering, "But he doesn't want you guys. He doesn't want to hurt you - if he did, he would've already."

"And?! We're still here!" Brett exclaimed with wide shocked eyes.

Gabby nodded slowly, her eyes half open and her body shaking with pain, "It means I can get him to let you both go."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Antonio<em>**

Nothing.

We found absolutely _nothing _in Ramsey's apartment that would indicate where he's keeping Gabby, Mills and Brett. Nothing but a box with photos and videos that the creep had taken of Gabby, spawning from work, Molly's, her favourite restaurant and coffee shop, her old apartment, Matt's old house and their new apartment. There were some of Gabby on a run alone or with Matt, and there were photos and a video of Gabby visiting Shay's grave.

Apart from that, the place was a dead end.

I kicked his bathroom door in anger. My foot went straight through, the cracking sounding resonating throughout the dusty, stuffy apartment. Voight managed to appear from nowhere, or maybe it seemed like that because I wasn't focused on anything but the fact that we weren't a step closer to finding my baby sister.

"There's fuck all here Voight. Nothing but more evidence that this bastard stalked my sister for months!" I yelled loudly with exasperation and annoyance, trying to resist the urge to punch something.

Perhaps Voight doesn't know what to say or perhaps he's just allowing me to let off steam, but he doesn't say anything.

"You would have thought that maybe she'd have picked up on it, or Matt would have or anyone, but it's like he was a ghost Voight," I mutter with a lower tone, rubbing the back of my neck as I leaned up against the wall.

"He's a loner Antonio and he was good at keeping himself at a distance, making himself unseen. They couldn't have known," he answers with his gritty voice, his arms crossed over his chest.

I exhale slowly, rubbing my face as Voight's words sunk in and moments later, a memory came to mind, "Even when Gabby was a kid she was always the first person there when I needed it... I was 24 and was in my third year as a beat cop," I explained as Voight leaned up against the doorframe, eyes trained on me as he listened intently, "And I was walking the streets of my neighbourhood with my old partner, Trevon, when we heard gunshots. Long story short, I got grazed by a bullet on my shoulder and so they took me to hospital. Laura was on a girls holiday and my parents had been in work, so when the hospital phoned home Gabby answered... 20 minutes later she turns up at the hospital, soaking wet from head to toe, bright red, panting like crazy... She'd run all the way to the hospital in the rain just to be with me..." I laughed lightly to myself as I remembered, even noticing Voight cracking a sliver of a smile, "She did not leave my side and when she had to, I was hounded with constant phone calls to see if I was okay. And I can tell you another hundred stories just like that one Voight..."

"Your sister is a remarkable woman Antonio and I promise you, if we have to go to hell and back to find her safe, I swear to you that's what we'll do."

Voight's words left room for no argument, no 'what ifs', no nothing. The stern and strong look in his eye reminded me a lot of Gabby and I believed that no matter what he'd keep fighting just like he had said he would. I knew Gabby would too, so that meant I had to keep fighting too.

"Call Casey," Voight murmurs as he pats my arm before leaving the room, "Let him know what's going on."

I dialled Matt's number and he answered on the first ring, "_Antonio? Have you found anything? Have you found her?"_

I couldn't ignore the desperation and despair in his voice, the pain of losing my sister becoming all too much for him. I almost flinched at the tone in his voice.

"No Matt, I'm sorry..." I answer quietly, "There's nothing here but photos and videos he's taken of Gabby."

If you could hear hearts break, I just listened to it.

"_Antonio... I don't know what to I'll do if-"_

"You can't think like that Matt," I tell him firmly, "You know Gabby will keep fighting, so you have to. For her."

_"I'm not giving up Antonio, I'll never give up on your sister. She's too important. I love her."_

"I know you do Matt and trust me, I know how hard it is to sit and wait and hope that we'll find something that leads to her. And we will, we just have to be patient, however hard it sounds. We'll find them all."

He doesn't reply but the line is not dead. I can hear movement.

"Matt?" But he still doesn't answer, "MATT!"

_"Antonio? B-Brett and Mills just walked in..."_


	7. Tears

**Hey guys! **

**I hope this chapter can make up the delay for the last one!**

**There's not much of a development, but it explains in much more detail what we found out in the last chapter. In the next, you'll see what led to Mills and Brett turning up in Molly's and where Gabby is now because of it. **

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**Love Hannah.**

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* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

I call her cell countless times. I know she won't answer, but a fleeting part of me thinks _maybe. _Maybe she will pick up. But she doesn't. Of course she doesn't. Her phone is evidence and Gabby's elsewhere, somewhere, with that bastard.

So I continue to call, the idea of her answering leaving my mind which is now only concerned with listening to her voicemail over and over, the sound of her velvelty smooth low voice filling my head. It's all I want to hear, all I want to think about, and for a while, I allow myself the slight comfort of her voice, over and over.

"Hey, this is Gabby. Sorry I missed you, leave a message and I'll call you back asap. Have a great day."

I redial so much that the battery life of my phone depleted by half. As of now, it was the closest thing I had to hearing her voice, the only thing grounding me enough to not go find Ramsey myself, wrench in hand and bring all three of them back, safe.

Gabby being in the hands of her stalker was something I couldn't stomach, something that sent my stomach churning whenever I thought about it. I imagined her face, red from crying, eyes wide and scared, lips shouting words of 'Stop!' and 'Let me go!' I flinched with the thought and decided that if I was to stay sane long enough until we had lead at least, I had to stay clear of my imagination.

Things hadn't been great between Gabby and I for awhile, that much was plain and simple. The whole Lt. and Candidate thing was tough on both of us, and I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't affecting our home life, no matter how much I tried to ignore it. In truth, I didn't know how we could change things for the better, but Gabby had appeared to try. She'd gone to the CFD just before she was taken, requesting transfer papers, and according to the cops, she'd been flustered and upset. She was trying to make it easier on the both of us after our argument, but if we couldn't talk about anything, her transferring would change very little. The change in our work lives had greatly affected our communication, right down to the point where it could break us. I couldn't let that happen. No matter what. I couldn't lose her.

_"This is just a job. What we have is everything."_

She'd said those words months ago and we'd both believed them, both understood what those words entailed. But we'd gone against what we wanted, and we'd let the job get in the way when we'd promised it wouldn't. But perhaps those words meant more now, when I'm faced with the prospect of losing her. Job or no job, Gabby was my everything, and there's nothing I would stop at doing to ensure that we lived out the rest of our days together.

I'd argued with Antonio about going with them to Ramsey's place, but both he and Kelly argued against it, and so I didn't end up going. In the time he, Halstead and Voight had gone, leaving just Lindsay, Boden had called with an update that Terrence was still in ICU, but the doctors had said he was stable. When he asked about any news on Gabby, Mills and Brett, I said nothing and he understood, just saying to keep him updated.

It was nearing 7:30pm when I my cell rang, Antonio popping up as caller ID. I answered instantly, jumping up to pull my phone to my ear.

"Antonio? Have you found anything? Have you found her?" I say into the phone with a hurried voice, my body shaking at the possibility of news. Of the possibilty that Gabby was safe, that they were all safe and that Ramsey had a hole in his head.

_"No Matt, I'm sorry..." _he answers quietly, with a sad helpless tone and my body depletes with devastation and fear, _"There's nothing here but photos and videos he's taken of Gabby..." _

Half of me was livid with the idea that this creep had watched Gabby for months, watched her every move and documented it. She would think of nothing worse, her privacy invaded in such a vile and horrendous way, but the other half of me couldn't focus on this. I could only focus on the fact that they'd found nothing and that we weren't a step closer to finding them at all.

I slumped back into my seat, feeling eyes on me as I did so, my chest aching with sadness and pain and loss. Perhaps a sob came from me, perhaps a cry, I couldn't really tell much besides of the thumping of my pulse in my head.

"Antonio... I don't know what I'll do if-" I murmur, my voice sounding just as desperate and distraught as I felt as I thought of the worst possible outcome, losing her.

"_You can't think like that Matt,"_ Antonio tells me with a firm tone that warrants no argument, _"You know Gabby will keep fighting, so you have to. For her."_

"I'm not giving up Antonio. I'll never give up on your sister. She's too important. I love her," I answer him quickly, summing up exactly how I felt and how I would continue to feel for the rest of my life.

_"I know you do Matt and trust me, I know how hard it is to sit and wait and hope that we'll find something that leads to her. And we will, we just have to be patient, however hard it sounds. We'll find them all."_

I listen to his words but before I can answer, I heard the front door of Molly's open and I watched as Herrmann looked up from the bar, glass and cloth in hand, trying to distract himself from the situation that faced us all.

His eyes widened, his jaw practically dropped, and I couldn't really make out the expression on his face. Slowly, gently, I turned in my chair, my body too drained to move quickly, and my eyes met what Herrmann had been greeted with.

Brett and Mills had walked through the door.

I almost fell forward in shock, a hand coming from Kelly to keep me steady. I stared up wondrously and with utter confusion at them. They looked physically fine, though Mills was holding his arm as if he were in pain with it. He looked shocked and tired, dark bags under his eyes in contrast with his usually dark, but now much paler skin. Brett was in worse shape, she looked panicked and it was clear that she was shaking. Her eyes were not tired, just wide with anxiety and pure shock as her blonde ponytail lay limp against her shuddering shoulders.

But they weren't with Gabby. And Gabby didn't walk in the door behind them. And then the door closed, without Gabby reaching out to hold the door open for herself.

Gabby wasn't here.

_"Matt?"_ I heard Antonio yell down the phone to me, worriedly and almost frantically, _"Matt!"_

I swallowed thickly and my wide eyes focused on nothing but the shaking and fearful figures in front of me, "Antonio, B-Brett and Mills just walked in..." I stammer almost incoherantly.

The room stood still for moments, everyone staring at Mills and Brett, Mills and Brett staring right back at us.

_"We'll be ten minutes,"_ Antonio said hurriedly before the line went dead.

Lindsay was the first to hurriedly approach them, guiding Brett to the booth where Cruz and Otis took over as she tended to Mills with Herrmann, who had rushed from behind the bar.

I can't say a word, but the entire time I feel Mills' eyes on me. I can tell he's confused as to why I'm silent, but I can't ask the question that may be answered with words that would shatter my world. Words that would tear me to shreds. Words that would be a stab to the chest.

Brett is babbling and as I'm not focusing on her words, I can't really make out what she's saying. I can still feel Mills' eyes on me as he explains to Herrmann that his shoulder is either fractured or dislocated, but physically, that they're both fine.

Kelly's arm has secured itself around me, holding my shocked body in place as I feel a million emotions flood through me and a million thoughts flash through my mind.

_"...she wouldn't listen... we tried... she wanted to make... make sure we were okay... I didn't... we couldn't..."_ Kelly was trying to talk to me, but all I could suddenly hear was Brett's rambling and how I couldn't make sense of it, but how I could catch the jist of what she was saying.

Mills shrugs off any poking and prodding from Herrmann and Lindsay, and lifts himself from his chair, a flash of pain searing across his face as his shoulder caused him discomfort. I watch as he makes his way over to me and sits down on the stool beside me, Kelly's grip tightening on me as he feared the worse.

The way Mills looks at me disturbs me, frightens me to the bone, makes me feel more fear than I have ever felt, and the only words that I can say are, "What is Brett talking about? Mills?" I question frantically.

The younger man glances briefly at Brett and then back at me, sadness written into every feature.

"Mills, don't you dare..." I murmur weakly, my voice catching in my throat as he moves to speak.

He shakes his head, "Casey, she's not dead. Gabby's alive," he confirms strongly.

"Then where is she?!"

I study his face, how his eyes tear at my words. And if I feared his affections for Gabby before, I didn't now. The look in his eye was not of man who was scared of losing the woman he loved, it was the look of man who was scared of losing a dear friend. What Gabby had been trying to tell me all along was confirmed. He was her friend. Of course Mills cared for her, of course she cared for him, but that relationship had a boundary of friendship and that was it.

Mills swallows thickly and the words looked as if they tasted bitter as they came out of his mouth, "Gabby made him take her somewhere. She talked him into it, so she could make sure we were safe... We tried to stop her, we did, but she wouldn't... she wouldn't listen."

Mills was angry at her for this, I could see that in his eyes. My stomach lurched at his words and I crumpled into a hole of despair. Brett had heard Mills and now she was crying. I was too. Half the room was and the other half, had looks of grief on their faces.

I was too upset too speak, to caught up in the development that had got us Brett and Mills back, but had pushed Gabby away from us. Kelly spoke instead, "What do you mean, 'take her somewhere?' Take her where?"

Mills shook his head, "He didn't say... And by the time I managed to get out of the ties, they were gone..."

"How was she?" spurred from my lips as I stared of the picture of Gabby with Herrmann and Otis above the Molly's cash till. She was smiling and my heart ached.

Shaking his head again Mills said, "Matt, you-"

"Please," I begged, "How was she?"

Mills paused grimily, but gave in to my request. Kelly, Herrmann, Lindsay, Cruz, Otis, Mouch, Capp and I, the entire room was hooked onto Mills' words, even Brett. Yet she was sobbing and I was fearful as to why, she knew what had happened and she was crying.

Mills was trying to swallow, but a lump in his throat prevented him from doing so, so he spoke anyway, "When he, Ramsey," he confirmed that it was that bastard, "brought her in she was unconscious and apart from a cut on her head she looked fine. When Gabby stirred, he knocked her out with whatever drug he'd used on us... When she was out we realised it wasn't anything to do with us, that he was only interested in her and then Gabby woke up... She freaked out and tried to get her hands free, but the ties cut her hands so she stopped..." he swallowed but I pressed for him to continue, "She was asking questions, so did we, and when we described Ramsey, she instantly knew it was him... And she started calling for him, yelling at him like she wasn't afraid of him..."

My body was shaking and I could tell that Kelly knew, as his hand squeezed my arm, silently comforting me as Mills continued.

"And he comes in, she yells at him some more in typical Gabby fashion. And... Matt you don't-" Mills says quietly, hesistating to speak.

"I want to hear this, Mills, please," I tell him defiantly with a tone that said not to argue with me and so Mills carried on, with an upset clear in his voice.

"He hit her and told her that she'll 'learn not to speak to him like that.' And no matter how much I screamed at him, he ignored me as if I wasn't there. And she told him to 'go to hell' and then... he beat her Casey, he beat her and there was nothing I could do..."

Mills breaks down crying, crying because he couldn't protect his friend, crying because of everything that had happened.

I was crying too. Crying for Gabby, crying for Mills, crying for Brett, for myself. For everyone who was affected in this mess.

I reach out my arm and hug Mills, "It's not your fault, Mills, it's not your fault."


	8. Heartbroken

**Hey guys!**

**As per usual, thank you for all your wonderful and overwhelming support! I couldn't do this without you guys!**

**So this chapter is continuing on from the last one and it's in the next chapter that you guys will see what happened with Gabby and Ramsey to get Mills and Brett free, and what gets us to this point in the story.**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**Love Hannah.**

**oxoxoxo**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Severide<em>**

Mills and Brett retold their story to Antonio and Voight before being taken to the hospital by Lindsay and Halstead, Cruz and Otis leaving to meet them at the hospital. Mills had told them of the address of the old warehouse where they were kept and of how they'd caught a cab here to Molly's.

The story went that Gabby had managed to get Ramsey to think that she was on his side and she had suggested that they go elsewhere, for privacy. Ramsey, apparently ecstatic that Gabby 'had learned so quickly' as Mills had put it, immediately took her up on her offer. He'd drugged Gabby and taken her out of the room, telling them that if they got out of their bounds before he'd left, that he'd kill both them and Gabby. After he left, Mills had struggled so much that his chair had fallen and the arm of it had broken off, allowing him to escape from his bounds and release Brett.

He explained of how when they got outside, they saw the back end of a silver sudan taking a corner but that was they got of the car before it disappeared out of view. Gabby was still in the wind and as of now, they had no leads as to where Ramsey could have taken her.

This news shook Matt even more, as far as he, or any of us knew at this point, was that Gabby was beaten and alone with Ramsey, her stalker. We had no idea at was what happening to her, no idea of what condition she was in and the not knowing was one of the worst parts.

Whilst standing with Atwater I catch the tail end of a conversation between Matt and Antonio, "...She's alone with him Antonio, completely alone. What does he want from her? What does he want that he hasn't already taken?"

The words sink my stomach and cause goose-bumps to rise on my skin, I saw this a little more objectively than Matt and I knew the answer to his question. There were still things Ramsey could take from Gabby, still things he could do. They were alone. Atwater gives me a knowing look, Voight's giving the same look to Matt, they know too.

Antonio rubs his weary face, "Matt, we can't think like this. We've just got to think of how to get her back."

Matt slams his fist on the bar, "Whilst he's doing god knows what to her? No Antonio, you know exactly what he could be doing!" The words were loud and forceful, but they weren't angry words, they were scared, distraught, heartbroken.

Antonio swallows thickly and it seems as if the older man is holding back his tears, trying to stay strong for his baby sister, trying to stay strong for the man she loved, but he was failing, Matt's words making him face what he'd been trying to ignore.

"_I _can't think of that Matt! I can't think of... _that_ because she's my little sister and I should have protected her!"

Perhaps Voight thought that his fight was going to come to blows, I sure did, or perhaps he just thought that they didn't need to be screaming at each other when they were trying to focus, but the man steps in between the two and they both silence.

Both Matt and Antonio stare at Voight for a few moments before he says a word, "This isn't helping Gabby, not in any way shape or form. She's strong and she's a fighter, so the moment the two men she loves more than anything lose their heads you're underestimating her, and you're letting her down when she needs you most."

Matt's breathing heavy, Antonio's holding back tears, both men seem completely unreachable in terms of talking them off the edge, but Voight's words work. He calms them enough that anger doesn't seep from every single pore, enough so they can think somewhat clearly.

After a long moment passes, Voight continues on with talk of the investigation, "Olinsky is looking into a few leads with Burgess and Roman. Whilst he's doing that we're going to go the warehouse where Ramsey held them see if there's anything that can lead us to her, understood?"

They almost nod in sync, Matt and Antonio, both now focused on Voight's words. He'd given them a task, a purpose, an objective to focus on to actively try to make strides in finding Gabby, rather than just sit around fretting.

So we head to the address Mills had given us, Matt, Antonio, Voight, Atwater and I at least. Herrmann and those left at Molly's decide to head to the hospital to check on the Boden's and Mills and Brett, saying that they'll call with any news.

As we drive along in the SUV Antonio murmurs to Voight, "Ruzek still sifting through CCTV?"

Voight, who was driving, nods, "Hasn't found anything solid yet, but there's still a lot to get through."

I could only hope for a break through sooner rather than later, for everyone's sakes.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

The sound of our footsteps echo throughout the old warehouse as we walk through. The imprint of shoes are scuffed along the floor from multiple people and they lead us to the dingy room where they were kept.

My heart races as I step inside behind Voight and Antonio and the first thing I notice is the broken chair on the floor. _Mills' chair. _According to Voight, rope was on the floor before it. Voight says that CSI couldn't find much beyond what we already knew. Gabby's, Mills', Brett's and Ramsey's fingerprints were everywhere, Gabby's blood was apparently found inside this room.

The chairs and the mattress are a good six feet apart. The mattress, where Gabby was placed, is pressed against a wall with an old pipe running along it. Rope was wrapped around that too, the binds that had held Gabby, they were said to be covered in blood from where Gabby pulled against them so much.

I wondered whether the walls were echoing Gabby's yells and screams, or whether they were just in my head. I stared at that mattress and pictured her laying there, frightened and terrified, knowing how much danger she was in, taking that beating... I pictured her tears.

I felt sick.

"I can feel her here," I whispered to Kelly, completely sure that I sounded out of my mind crazy. But it was true, I felt Gabby's presence here, I felt her smile and her laugh and her bright eyes and her tears and sadness and cries all mixed into one big bowl of the woman I loved.

Kelly nods and the look on his face tells me that he completely understands, and I guess he did. He still has trouble with going back to the apartment he shared with Shay, even if he's in need of something he left there. I think it's because he can feel Shay there too, even though she's gone.

I watch Antonio as he searches all around the room and then repeats, studying the place where his baby sister was held, "Gabby convinced Ramsey to take her somewhere, alone..."

Voight nods and turns to Antonio, "She was protecting Mills and Brett, making sure that he wasn't going to hurt them."

"But why? Why did she think that he was going to hurt them? Ramsey only hit her, even though Mills gave him enough reason to lash out, but he didn't," Antonio argued and I could tell that he was confused with Gabby's actions.

No one spoke, no one had the answer. I was just as confused as Antonio, he'd made a good point. Why fear for Mills and Brett if he'd only harmed her, even though he had every chance to hurt them?

"It's not about Gabby thinking he was going to hurt Mills or Brett," Kelly says quietly, out of the blue, causing everyone to turn to him for explanation. He frowns and sorrow flashes across his face, "Gabby feels guilty over Shay's death because they traded places, she thinks that it should have been her," he breathes in deeply, memories of that day resurfacing, "Gabby, in her eyes, is making sure that no one else... is hurt instead of her."

And of course, this mad perfect sense.

And it broke my heart.

_"This can't be real, it can't be," her voice is merely above a whisper and I know I wouldn't have heard it had I not been sat beside Gabby. She'd just thrown her black dress on to the floor, the dress she was wearing to Shay's funeral, and had collapsed on to the bed in her underwear, tears overwhelming her. _

_I sat beside her, black trousers, white shirt, tie loose around my neck, and took her hand in mine, "I know in my head one thing, and I feel another... It's like she's just...away, not... gone... Matt I can't do this," Gabby wails as I pull her shaking body into mine, securing my arms tightly around her body. _

_I don't know what I say. I think over a thousand responses but none fit, no words can bring back Shay and make our family whole again. _

_"I want to hug her," Gabby blubbers into my chest and then the resolve that I'd been trying so hard to maintain crumbled, and I cried too. I cried into Gabby's hair, cried for our ray of 51 sunshine, cried for the girl we'd all loved from the moment she swooped into 51 and joked with Kelly. _

_"It's not right that she's gone... I want to be able to hear her laugh and tease Severide... I want to hug her so hard that it hurts. I miss her, oh god Matt I miss her so much... Please, I need her," Gabby rambles heartbrokenly, clutching tightly at my shirt as I feel her tears wet the material. _

_"It should've been me; it should have been me..."_

A hand on my arm snaps me from my thoughts. When I look up, half shocked, Gabby is staring at me. But it's not Gabby, it's Antonio. _God, they have the same eyes._

"Matt..." he says gently, looking at me with a worried and tenative stare, "We're gonna head back to the station, Ruzek thinks he might have found something."

My exhausted body lightens up at this fact, "Does it sound good?"

Antonio shrugs and then sighs deeply as the others start shuffling out towards the SUV, "Can't be sure yet."

I nod, understanding that any lead, no matter how small, was better than having none at all. I then follow Antonio and the others outside, noticing how it was well into the night by now, probably around 2am. Gabby had been gone for more than 7 hours now and it was unbearable.

_Unbearable to know that she was alone, and that I couldn't protect her. _

* * *

><p><strong><em>Dawson<em>**

It was night.

I could tell that much.

I felt funny. Dazed. He must have given me something again, my arm felt sore, the kind of sore you get from needles.

The soft noise of the car fills my ears; we'd been driving for a while.

It was cold, I was shivering.

I hurt so much. My body ached and hurt to move. Breathing was difficult; I had a few cracked ribs.

_Matt._

I thought about him as I drifted into unconsciousness.

_Yeah, that's why they call it the future, but what I do know? Is that you and I are gonna face it together._

Matt.


	9. Their Escape

**Hey guys!**

**You guys are brilliant, so I want to thank you all for your wonderful reviews! They mean so much and to know that there are people out there reading and enjoying my work, I'm extremely grateful.**

**Sorry for the delay with this chapter. One word - school :(**

**But I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I'm hoping you do!**

**Love you. **

**Hannah.**

**oxoxoxo**

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><p><strong><em>Dawson<em>**

_Before Mills and Brett escaped..._

It was a struggle to focus on Mills voice. My body hurt and ached so much that the pain begged for me to give in to unconsciousness, but I stayed awake. I tried to focus on the two friends who sat, bound, opposite me across the room. The two friends who were frightened and afraid. The two friends who were ensuring that I stayed awake, stayed talking to them.

I relayed my aches and pains over and over as they questioned and questioned my injuries, their impulse to do their job still fighting within them. My EMT training was kicking in too, despite the haziness I felt calling me to sleep. _Head wound from the crash, bruises on my arms from his punches and grip, cracked ribs causing strenuous breathing..._

"Mills, I'm okay," _and a bruised jaw,_ I noted as it my jaw ached as I spoke. I repeated the words over and over as Mills questioned again and again, "Really," I ensured, "It looks worse than it is."

I noticed how his lip curled at my words, "Gabby, this is not okay. None of this is okay," his words were forceful, fierce, but if I knew Pete as much as I thought I did, it only revealed his fear more than his anger.

I coughed, wincing as my ribs ached in protest, "I know," I mutter through gritted teeth, "I know that this isn't okay, but I'm gonna try to get you guys out of here okay?"

Brett sniffled, a lock of blonde hair coming loose and brushing against her tear-stained cheeks, "Get _us_, get all of us out of here," she corrected.

I exhaled as softly as I could without causing too much pain to myself, shaking my head against the fresh-smelling mattress of which I lay, "He won't agree to letting us all go Sylvie," I whisper gently, "It's me he has beef with."

Mills hissed sharply, "This isn't beef Gabby, you know this isn't about you wronging him."

I flinched at his words but I tried to hide it, I didn't want to think of the reasons why. Why didn't matter. I was here. We were here. And getting Mills and Brett safe was the only thing that concerned me as of now.

"Pete please," I beg, tears suddenly falling down my face, "Let me get you out of here. Let my try. And then if it works, you can help my brother in finding me, okay? Please."

Brett was more naive to my words, Mills wasn't. I watched as his face fell into even further dismay and distraught, so I kept talking, "This isn't just about me. Think of Sylvie, think of you, he may have not hurt you now but that could change..."

Brett sniffled a little more, the fingers I noticed she had clasped around Mills' tightened ever so slightly, "But Gabby, what if he-?" she questions but I don't let her finish, don't want to hear her words because they scared me more than I cared to show.

"He won't hurt me if I comply with him, okay? Don't worry about me. You guys can find me," I assure her as much as I can with a smile, "It'll be okay, I promise."

Mills face hadn't changed, his eyes still stared at me with anger and fear so I directed my words at him again, "Pete, it'll be okay. I promise," I repeat, a little more softly this time.

He swallowed thickly, "You've got to promise me that you won't give up. That you'll stay strong until we find you. Think about Casey and keep strong okay?"

I nodded, a wave of tears overcoming me again at the mention of Matt's name, "I promise Mills, thank you... But I need you to do something for me..."

His brows burrowed in confusion, but he nevertheless nodded slowly, "Anything Gab, just say the word."

I have to force the words out but they still tasted bitter in my mouth, each word a stab to my heart as I struggled to keep my composure, "If the worst happens... I need you to tell Matt that I love him more than he'll ever know. That every second I spent with him was a treasured miracle, and that I would not be the person I am without him..."

Mills cries and shakes his head, "Gabby, no..."

"Promise me Mills," I say loudly, fiercely, "Promise me you'll make sure he knows how much I love him."

He studies my face and sees how much this means to me, and after a few moments of deliberation Mills nods, "I promise."

I take a deep breath and think about what I about to do, "Stay safe okay? Get your asses out of here safe, you hear me?" They both nod, they're both crying.

I hiss as I shift on the mattress, tilting my head towards the door, "Victor!" I call, faking softness in my voice with the use of his first name, "Victor please..."

A minute passed of nothing, no movement what's so ever, and I thought that perhaps he was ignoring me, until the lock of the door clicked and he stepped inside. Ramsey, looking his usual self with a little excitement in his eye, scanned the room before taking a few slow steps towards me, "Yes?" he asked in spine-tingling tone.

I try to look more convincing, more enthusiastic, so I lean my body ever so much closer to his, "I want to learn," I murmur nervously with a stammer.

Ramsey is analysing me, my words, my body language, and for a moment I thought he wasn't going to believe me so I quickly say more loudly, "I want to be with you and learn."

"You want to be with me?" He says almost ecstatically, his dark eyes widening with thrill as I nod my head.

"But not here," I say softly, pulling on my ties, "Not like this. Somewhere else, somewhere... personal..." My stomach lurched at the word and my blood ran cold. I knew fully well what I was implying, and it made me feel sick so much I had to fight back a gag.

Ramsey pats my knee, "I understand, wait here," he instructs, _as if I can go anywhere, _before getting up to leave.

"What about them?!" I ask hurriedly, motioning to Mills and Brett who watched on with bewilderment.

Ramsey shrugged as if he didn't care, he probably didn't and this made me angry for he'd done all this and he hadn't the slightest remorse, "They stay here," he replies with indifference, before leaving the room, this time leaving the door wide open.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Mills<em>**

Ramsey leaves. Gabby's plan worked. He's taking her out of here and leaving us.

And this didn't sit well with me at all, "Gabby, I can't let you do this," I say with a hushed voice as I wasn't sure when Ramsey would return.

She snaps her head towards me angrily, "You promised. You promised me Mills!"

"You don't know what he'll do to you!"

"And you don't know what he'll do to either you _or _Sylvie if you stay here!"

Gabby's eyes were wide with an emotion I couldn't quite place, fear maybe, guilt, "Mills please, get yourselves out of here safe. Please. Let me do this."

I don't have chance to answer as Ramsey returns, needle in hand. Brett's fingers tighten around mine, I hear her breath catch.

I opened my mouth to complain, fight, but Gabby continued to stare at me with a begging look her eye. Sylvie was shaking.

"What's that for?" Gabby murmurs, but she doesn't take her eyes off me. Still begging for my silence. I comply.

Ramsey strokes Gabby's messy hair, "Just something to help you sleep for our journey," he soothes as he would a child as he pokes the needle into the skin of Gabby's arm.

The drug had an almost instant effect on Gabby as her eyes immediately drooped, but she gazed between me and Brett, as the drug took a stronger hold on her. Ramsey held her in his arms as she slumped into unconsciousness, her body dead weight against his. He reached up and untied the bounds on Gabby's hands and they fell limply beside her. Hoisting Gabby's fragile body into his arms bridal style, he began to carry her out of the room, stopping suddenly in front of Brett and I.

"If you get out of here before we leave, I'll kill her and then you," he says with a deadly calm voice, his eyes showing how sinister his words were, before leaving.

Leaving with Gabby.

Long minutes passed.

Even more passed before I began to struggle against my bounds.

Eventually I struggled so much that my chair fell to the floor and the arm broke off.

My shoulder had slammed against the floor, possibly fracturing it. I hissed in pain.

I hauled myself to my feet, helped untie Sylvie before we leaned on each other as we left the dusty old warehouse, night already falling outside.

Once outside, I saw the tail end of a car slip past the corner. No Ramsey. No Gabby.

We hailed down a cab and when the cabbie asked where we were going, I replied, "Molly's," as I cradled a crying Sylvie to my chest.

Two thoughts passed through my mind.

One, _Gabby and Ramsey were completely alone. _

Two, _what would I tell Casey?_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

"I think I've got the car he's driving. It fits Mills' description and it was rented to a bogus name. Rental company identified the guy as Ramsey. BOLO is out on the car as of now."

Ruzek explains this new information as swiftly as he can the moment we arrive at District 21.

Antonio perks up a little at the news, "Any hits?"

Ruzek shakes his head, "No hits, but I can trace it as far as Northfield and then I lose it, but we know he's travelling North."

Antonio sighs, leaning up against the table and rubbing his face, "Could be going to a million and one places."

"I can do some more digging, see if I can find more on this dirtbag?" Ruzek suggests.

Voight nods, "You do that kid, thanks," he gruffs before Ruzek heads off with Atwater.

"What next?" I mutter when the room goes silent, Antonio, Voight and Kelly not knowing what to say.

"We look through the photos and tapes, see if there's anything in there whilst the others look into everything else," Voight answers, before leading us to their break room where a laptop was already set up, with the photos and tapes stacked on the table.

_"Dawson, I need more glasses!" Herrmann calls from behind the bar. It's another video from Molly's. It's busy._

_"Yeah yeah, you always need more damn glasses!" Gabby replies sassily, appearing from the kitchen with glasses stacked up on a tray. _

_Herrmann rolls his eyes, "Thank your lucky stars it's this busy in here."_

_Gabby chuckles, "Cheer up grumps!"_

_Then a voice I hadn't heard in months sounded, "Hey hot mama, damn if I was straight."_

_Gabby rolls her eyes as she turns to Shay, who plops down onto a barstool, Kelly slipping in beside her, "We have the same conversation every time you come in here Shay."_

_Shay nods, "I can't help how hot you look, just stating facts."_

_"Love you too Shay," Gabby laughs as she pours a beer for Kelly._

_Shay scoffs, "The only lovin' you're giving is to our very own Truck Lieutenant!"_

_Gabby raises her brows with a wicked grin on her face, "I'm not saying a word."_

_"Where is Casey anyway?" Kelly asks, helping Gabby escape a grilling from Shay. _

_"At my neighbour's apartment. Fixing up something. He said he wouldn't be long."_

_The tape skipped until a while later, in which time I had arrived, Otis and Shay had relieved Herrmann and Gabby from behind the bar, and the camera was focused on Gabby and I in a booth. _

_Gabby turned so she could face me better, lifting her arms to throw them haphazardly around my neck, pressing her chest against mine, "So... how's life Matthew James Casey?" She says her voice giddy with the alcohol she'd consumed that night. _

_I chuckle at her after wrapping my arms around her waist to pull her closer, "Oh I know you're drunk when you use my full name."_

_Gabby narrows her eyes and pokes my chest, "Answer the question... please..."_

_"Pretty good," I shrug, "You know, good jobs, good friends, the works... There's this hot chick I know. She's pretty amazing. Was thinking of asking her out."_

_"She sounds great."_

_"Yeah," I smirk, "Shay's a great chick."_

_Gabby raises her brow, "Just because I used that on you the other day doesn't mean you get to reciprocate."_

_"Nah, you're pretty great too," I smile at her whilst gazing at her beautiful face._

_Gabby was running her finger along the scar on the back of my neck, just under my hairline, a slight frown pulling on her lips, "You know I love you right? More than anything."_

_I nod, moving her hand from the scar and kissing it, "Hey, of course I know. It's okay, I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere."_

_"I just don't know what I'd do without you Matt."_

_I smile, pulling her close so that I could kiss her deeply, "I love you," I murmur against her lips._

_"Te quiero," Gabby answers back, the smile I loved returning to her lips._

I don't know what I'd do without you either Gabby.


	10. Hastings Lake

**Hey everyone!**

**I wish to thank you all for sticking by the story and still being eager to read!**

**I hope this chapter makes up for the delay! I'm terribly sorry!**

**Thank you for all you guys do!**

**Love Hannah**

**oxoxox**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

Antonio, Severide, Voight and I watched countless tapes just like that one. Some were of Gabby with me, with Shay, at Molly's with the guys, alone. Quite a few of them were her alone, running, walking to the shops, getting out of her car etc. Those were the worst ones, because at any time that Ramsey was watching her when she was alone, meant that he could have grabbed her at any one of those times and I wouldn't have been there to protect her.

_Just like now._

Voight hadn't long gotten off the phone with Lindsay, Brett and Mills had been discharged from hospital and were going home to rest. It was cruel of me, but I couldn't help but wish that Gabby was the one in hospital. That Gabby was safe. No matter what I was happy that Mills and Brett were back home, safe, where they belonged, but I also battled with the emotions that wished it was Gabby too.

Watching the tapes felt like a huge weight on my chest, I couldn't breathe properly. My body ached with pain and fear and distress, but yet my blood boiled with searing rage and anger. Ramsey had no right, no right to intrude so selfishly on Gabby's life like this. To stalk her to the point of retaining intimate tapes of her and I together, conversations, glances, touches and kisses that should have always stayed between us. But they hadn't. He had sought to that.

I forced myself to not think about the 'what ifs' about what was happening between them. What ifs wouldn't help me, nor would they help Gabby, but the more I tried not to think about it, the more I did. And the dreadful horrific images that my mind thought up were more unbearable than I imagined.

I just wanted to hold Gabby in my arms, hold her so close and so tight that she felt entirely safe once more, completely protected and loved. To hold her until her tears dried up and she smiled once more. To make this pain go away.

To tell her that no matter what, despite the job, despite Ramsey, we could and would get through this together.

_"Talk to me."_

_"I'm scared."_

_"Of what?"_

_"Everything. The future. I don't know what's gonna happen, Matt."_

_"That's why they call it the future. One thing I know will happen for sure...you and I are gonna face it together."_

I'd said it then and meant it, and I'm saying it now and I absolutely mean it. No matter what, it was Gabby and me. Forever. She was it for me.

So the thought of never finding her was completely impossible, the thought of knowing that my days would pass by without her were unbearable. It just couldn't happen. I wouldn't allow it.

With this driving me on, I forced myself to continue watching every tape, every single second with the hope we'd find _something _that would lead us a step closer to having Gabby in my arms once more. Most of them just made me angry.

_Gabby running._

_Gabby walking. _

_Gabby at the grocery store, then visiting Antonio at District 21._

_Gabby arriving with me at work, wiping at her eyes. _I remember that day; it was our first shift back after Shay had died. Gabby had been so upset. She wasn't sure if she could handle it. She was also worried for Severide, who'd just run off to god knows where. She missed Shay.

My fists clenched at the invasion of such a painful and vulnerable time for her. As if what she was dealing with wasn't enough, Ramsey was following her every move as she tried to grieve for the loss of her best friend.

Yet the next tape we watched _really _made my blood boil.

_Gabby was stood, staring stoically down at a grave I recognised, a grave that I'd visited many times over the past few months. Shay's. _

_She was alone, just staring… Every now and then she'd reach up to wipe her eyes, soon after new tears replacing the ones she had tried to erase. She pulled her jacket tightly around herself, not because of the weather, it was sunny, but because of how upset and vulnerable and lost she felt. _

_She starts to talk and at the first, you can't hear what she says, until suddenly, Ramsey must have done something to the camera to zoom in and hear her shaky voice. _

_"…Getting in that ambo without you was the hardest thing I've ever done Shay. It's meant to be me and you, forever… I miss you so much and yet it doesn't seem real… Half the time I expect to wake up from this dream and others, I completely forget until I turn up to work and realise that you're not by my side… You probably don't know how heartbroken we are, do you? I hope you don't… I wouldn't want you to be upset… It's just… I don't know how… how we can do this without you…"_

_Gabby's crying fully now and not even attempting to wipe away the salty streams running down her face. She hugs herself tightly, falls to her knees. _

_"I'm sorry… Shay, I'm really sorry that we traded places. I'm sorry that I didn't die instead… It was never meant to be you, never…"_

_She tugs her hand roughly through her hair, face twisted agony and grief. _

_"Severide's gone… We're worried about him… He's broken Shay, he's really… lost… and Matt and I aren't sure what to do… Can you look out for him please? Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid please… Let him know that you love him okay? We love you Shay, I love you…"_

_Then she gets up, wipes her face, takes a deep breath, and glances down at the headstone one more time before turning and leaving. _

Antonio moves to stop the tape before it suddenly switches to a forest scene.

"What the hell?" he mutters with confusion under his breath, narrowing his eyes at the screen.

_"Daddy! Daddy! Look what I've found!" _

_A young boy, perhaps six or seven, bounds up to the camera with a basket of _pinecones_ and berries in his hand, a wide smile on his face. _

I stared with wonder at the screen. The video was old, at least thirty years ago according to the picture quality, and whilst the boy was young, I recognised the eyes.

Victor Ramsey.

I feel Severide's hand clasp on my shoulder, "We got him Matt. We got him."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Olinsky<em>**

Toothpick in cheek, I stare at the man Trevor Mansville. A man in his late forties, sickly pale, bald, beady eyes and a certain nervousness about him. He was twitchy too, but I think that had more to do with being in interrogation rather than his character.

He was important because he was the man, the _only _man, that Victor Ramsey emailed under the guise of Trev614. _Original huh? _

Clicking my jaw I lean back in the chair, _jeez these were uncomfortable, _deciding that a forceful approach was going to get me nowhere with this guy and time was running short.

Antonio was counting on me. His family was everything to him. I could identify with that.

"So Trevor, how did you meet Victor Ramsey?" I ask him quietly, careful to keep my voice level.

He twitched again, "Through the internet," he stuttered hurriedly, his eyes wide, unable to meet my own.

"How long have you been in contact with him?"

"A few years… is he in some sort of trouble?" Trevor asked, becoming increasingly less nervous for himself and more curious about Victor as I continued my questioning.

"Are you close? Do you talk about a lot?"

Trevor shrugs, "He talks a lot about his girlfriend."

_Girlfriend? There was no girlfriend in his file. _

"What his girlfriend's name?"

He looked up to the ceiling in thought, his bald head shining under the light and after a few moments he looked at me and answered, "Gabriela. A Latina girl. He says he's lucky to have her, she's at least ten years younger than him and a stunner if you know what I mean," Trevor smirked suggestively.

"He send you any photos of Gabriela?"

He nods.

"Can you describe her?"

"Dark skin, Hispanic. Dark hair cut to her shoulders. Brown eyes, smoky. Short and petite. Got this amazing smile. You know, the ones that can capture a room? No idea how she's with Victor, he looks like a bird and not the pretty kind."

_Good lord. _

"When was the last time you spoke to Victor?"

Again, the now calm man thought for a moment before answering, "Two days ago. He said he and Gabriela were taking a vacation to his dad's old cabin and that he'd have no internet connection. Old fool's probably having some fun with that Latina right now," Trevor chuckled innocently, _he knew nothing about this._

"Do you happen to know where this cabin is?"

"Hasting's Lake. You know, the forest preserve, at least that's where I think it is."

"How sure are you?"

Trevor shrugged, "Pretty sure Detective. I've got a good memory."

"That's good enough for me."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Antonio <em>**

Olinsky rushes into the breakroom the moment that Ruzek broke into Ramsey's fathers records. His toothpick bobs in his mouth as he talks hurriedly.

"Think I've found her. Hasting's Lake," Olinsky explains as Ruzek nods at his computer.

"Yeah, Al, his dad died a couple months ago and left the cabin he owned to Ramsey. My bet is that he's taken Gabby there."

"His internet friend said that he was going to his dad's cabin."

I turn to Voight, "It's our best bet, right?"

The man deliberates for a split second before nodding, "Call Lindsay and Halstead. Atwater too. Get them to meet us there. Burgess and Roman too."

I turn to Matt, who was looking extremely fearful and slightly relieved at the same time, "I'm coming with you," he says defiantly.

I nod, clapping his arm, "I know you are man. Let's go get Gabby."

"And nail this s.o.b to the wall," Severide mutters under his breath as he follows us down to the garage.

I make Matt and Severide wait in the car. They don't. Instead they lean up against the car. That's as good as I was gonna get I suppose. Matt's practically bouncing on his feet, Severide's got a hand on him in case he decides to completely ignore my instructions.

"Halstead, Lindsay, Atwater, round back," Voight orders quietly as he secures his gun in his hand, "Everyone else with me."

I watch as the three run around the cabin and out of sight. I follow behind Voight, Olinsky right behind. Ruzek, Burgess and Roman, follow behind us.

Voight nods at me once before kicking down the door.

We burst inside.

There's been a struggle.

Victor Ramsey is lying, unconscious, on the floor.

A camera on top of a cabinet flashes red at me.

It smells stale, it air is stuffy.

Gabby's not here.

I grab Ramsey, gripping him by the collar, shaking him and screaming, "Where is she? You bastard, where is my sister?!"

I hear Severide's voice calling after Matt. Suddenly he's by my side.

As Ramsey slowly wakes he mutters, "Gabriela…"

Matt goes mad.

His fists clench balls of Ramsey's shirt into his hands and lifts him into the air before pushing him up forcefully against the wall, "Where is she? Where's Gabby?!"

Ramsey, wide eyed and dazed, cries, "I don't know!"


	11. Fight

**Hey everyone!**

**I hope you're all having a lovely peaceful Sunday! And hopefully, you'll enjoy this update!**

**Here we see what events led up to Antonio and Matt finding Ramsey alone in the cabin. What could have possibly happened?**

**I'm so thankful for your commitment and support for this story, as I'm nothing without you all!**

**Love Hannah.**

**oxoxox**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Dawson<em>**

Wood.

The strong familiar smell of fresh wood was what struck me when I woke. My head felt hazy, my eyes half open, after effects of a drug-induced sleep. I lay on a bed, surrounded by floaty white sheets and crisp cotton pillows. Scanning around I realised that I was in a cabin of some sort. The furniture it held appeared dated, probably from twenty or so years ago. The cabin was fairly large and was open plan, with the living room, kitchen and bedroom only separated by low walls. It didn't seem as if this place was used that often, dust particles floating throughout the air obvious that it hadn't recently been cleaned.

I try to lift myself up, but found that I am again bound to the headboard, my hands criss-crossed with a cable tie this time. I pull at the bound, testing its strength, only to feel a sharp pain from my wrists, evidence of me struggling against the ties before. Inhaling deeply, I faintly smelt the dried blood from the cuts on my wrists, the coppery smell becoming stuck in my senses. I still felt the ache in my body from my time in the warehouse or wherever we were kept, the pounding in my head had numbed slightly, but the ache in my limbs was still present, my breathing was tight and my jaw still stung.

But I'm still alive.

_And I was going to try my damnedest to stay this way. _

Because despite the problems that Matt and I faced, I love him, I have always loved him and I always will, and I had him to fight for. I had my family to fight for. Despite how hard my life seemed right now, I had _everything _to fight for. Despite the tears, the troubles, the pain and the problems, Matt and I could find solutions to our problems, because we _needed _each other. We needed each other in this world. _I _needed _him. _For the rest of my life.

And I would not let Ramsey get in the way of that.

"Oh, good, you're awake," the voice shocked me and when I looked up at the doorway, Ramsey's figure stood in it, logs of freshly cut wood in his arms.

After studying my features for a few moments in the daylight he quickly bent down and placed down the logs beside the door, rushing in. "You look so cold," he quips, swiping a blanket from the sofa and rushing over to drape it over my body, which was shaking even though I hadn't realised it.

"Why..." I started, but found that my voice was croaky so I had to stop to clear it, in which time Ramsey had sat beside my lying form, staring down at me in an affectionate way that made my blood run cold, "Why are you doing this Ramsey?"

He gazed down at me, a softer look in his face than what I had seen at the warehouse. He reached out a hand towards me and I flinched with fear, but this did not faze him, his hand coming to brush my hair over and over, "So we can be together Gabriela, finally."

I looked in Ramsey's eyes and expected to see a hint of something else in his eyes, perhaps evidence of his deceit, but he was telling the absolute truth. He truly believed his words. And I had to play along, because if I didn't, there's no telling what he'd do.

_And I had to stay alive._

I tried to hide my shock at his words and soften my agitated features, "Then can you untie me," I whisper gently, glancing up at my hands tied above my head as I lay, "Please?"

Ramsey deliberates before responding with a slight shake of his head, "Perhaps later… I have things to do, get some rest sweetheart."

He's stroking my hair again and adjusts the blanket slightly over my body, and the look in his eye changes as his large hand runs from my hair down to my cheek, cupping the flushed flesh that he found, "You're so beautiful Gabriela… And you undermine your own beauty because of the huge mistake you made."

With a pit of dread in my stomach I murmur apprehensively, "What mistake?"

Anger flashes in his eyes, pure unadulterated rage and I suddenly truly feared him, for the look in his eyes was almost inhuman, "You lessened yourself to his level, Matthew Casey, you became less just to be with him when he did not deserve you."

I'm smart enough to know not to argue, but as he rises from the bed and leaves through the door, done with the matter, I allow the tears that had been welling in my eyes to fall.

_Ramsey was so very wrong. It's not him that doesn't deserve me, it's me that doesn't deserve him. How much have I put him through? How many times have I been responsible for the look of hurt in his eyes? The anger? The pain? It's all down to me. Matt is the beauty and I'm the speck of dirt on the mirror that no matter how much you try to clean it never leaves. _

_That's me._

* * *

><p>I must have fallen asleep.<p>

I'm awoken to a beeping that soon stops as soon as I open my eyes. Not much has changed, apart from the sun appearing higher in the sky. I feel that I am not alone and I am right, because as my eyes scan the room, I see Ramsey standing beside a table that is parallel to this bed. He's adjusting something, but I can't quite make out what it is.

Something's wrong. Something doesn't feel right. My hairs stand on edge, my heart is racing, my body is shivering. Something is definitely not right about the way Ramsey is looking at me.

Whatever he's playing with beeps once more and then I see a light that turns from red to green. It's a camcorder. My stomach lurches.

"Ramsey…" I stutter, finding that my voice doesn't quite sound like my voice. It's been contorted by fear, "What are you doing?"

He shrugs his jacket off, placing it over the back of a worn wooden chair, "I waited so long for you Gabriela… from the first moment I set eyes on you, I knew that you were the one."

Ramsey turns to face me, a hand on the back of the chair, his body completely relaxed. His eyes burning with something I did not want to define.

"I thought about taking you the moment I found out who you were, but I waited. I let my desire for you burn, and my love for you grow."

I had to start talking now. It was my only chance.

"I know, Rams- Victor, I do… And I know you don't want to hurt me. I know that it's never been your intention to hurt or scare me, but you have to stop this, please. Let me go home," I try to sound as strong and as firm as I could whilst still maintaining a softness that would hopefully bring him around.

"No, I've never wanted to hurt you," he insists, rushing over with a voice that resembled that of one you would use to sooth a child, "Gabriela I want you to love me," he explains as he sits down beside me.

I stare up at him, my eyes burning, "Ramsey I'm engaged, I'm in love with Matt. We can't…"

The strike of his hand across my cheek halted my words instantly. The sensation stung and my skin was no doubt a burning red. That angle wasn't going to work, and I feared that I'd angered him to the point of no return.

Without me realising it he had pulled the blanket from my body and straddled my hips, his weight securing me from moving at all. I shook with raw fear.

"Please, god no, please Ramsey don't…" I pleaded desperately as he'd pulled out a scissors from his back pocket, the cold blade brushing along my skin as he cut through my green sweater.

_He was going to record him raping me, _I thought as the camcorder beeped once more.

"Ssh," he soothes as he runs his fingers along my bra and down my stomach, "It's okay baby."

I was choking on tears, my throat clamming up with fear, and as his face leaned down towards mine, I yelped. He presses his greasy lips against mine, using his hand that was tightly cupping my chin to keep my face in place. I squirmed against him and ripped my head away from his, "Stop, please, Ramsey stop!"

He only ignores me as his lips move down my skin, down my neck and across my skin.

I felt sick. The only person I ever wanted to touch me like this was Matt.

His hands were everywhere, his slimy fingers making my skin itch and burn, and I cried at every touch.

I fought against the bounds, but there was no budging, but I kept pulling and pulling. My legs were flailing, trying to kick him but he was pressing his weight against them to stop me moving them far. I kept screaming, over and over in hope that he'd stop or someone would hear.

If there was anyone _to_ hear.

As his hands made their way towards my jeans I screamed again, but he seemed ignorant to my cries, "Please stop, please… no, no, please no… Matt, Matt I'm sorry…" I screech, the only coherent thought I was having was those of Matt, and how sorry I was.

But my yells for Matt only angered Ramsey, bringing him from his thoughts long enough to reach up and punch my face, dazing me.

My head lulls back, my body limping… _don't give up, _a voice sounded in my head. It sounded like Shay.

I feel his hands on my jeans, on the button, on the zipper.

No, no.

The word was said both internally and externally.

I tugged on the ties; I pulled harder than I thought I could.

A hand came free. So did the other.

I lunge at Ramsey, stunning him momentarily. He starts to fight back and I'm fighting too, we fall off the bed with a loud thump. He's on top of me again, his hands on my throat.

I lift up my knee forcefully, hitting him right where it hurts. He cries out and falls down beside me. I roll to move away from him, knocking against a bedside table. A lamp crashes down to the floor from it.

Ramsey grabs my leg, pulling me towards him. I scream out again.

I reach out and manage to clasp my fingers around the base of the large lamp, tightening my fist around it. When Ramsey tries to straddle me again, I swing the lamp so forcefully that when it connects with his head it knocks him out cold.

Unconscious and limp, he falls to the floor.

Breathing heavily, unable to catch my breath, I clamber to my feet and rush towards to door. I yank it open, the bright light stinging my eyes but not stopping me to run forward.

It's a forest.

I wildly search around for his car, the blood pumping in my ears. I can't see it anywhere and I can't stay here, so I run.

I zip up my jeans as I run as fast as I can, not feeling any aches and pain in my body, the adrenaline rushing through my veins at the speed of light.

I run.

Run.

I hear the leaves crunch under my feet. It's cold, the air is bitter despite the shining sun. I try not to fall over roots of trees, but I do nevertheless, yet I keep getting up, the fear of Ramsey coming after me too strong.

_Keep running;_ the voice speaks again, _Shay._

And I do. I don't stop.

And then I fall, and I'm falling. Down and down a hill, under I reach the bottom, where I lose consciousness.

And the darkness takes me.


	12. This Family

**Hey everyone!**

**I got this chapter written up and just couldn't wait to post it so here it is!**

**Again, thank you all for your great reviews! You guys went crazy in the last chapter!**

**I know you're all anxiously waiting for Matt to find Gabby, and trust me he will, just not in this chapter. It'll be in the next, I promise.**

**Hope you enjoy this!**

**Love you all, Hannah.**

**oxoxox**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

Hands grabbed at me, pulling me away from a dazed Ramsey. I fought against them, fought with every fibre of rage in my body but the hands wouldn't budge. Atwater and Ruzek lift Ramsey onto a chair and cuff him there, whilst Voight steps into view, blocking my line of sight to Ramsey.

"Where is she? Damn it where she?!" I scream at him, continuing to fight against the hands.

_Where was Gabby? Was she safe? Was she alive?_

"Matt, man, Matt," Kelly calls, stepping in front of me, moving his hands from my shoulders to my arms, shaking them to make me focus on him.

"Damnit Kelly where is she?!"

Finally the hands, Halstead's, Antonio's and Kelly's let me go as Kelly guides me to a chair, holding me in place with a hand on my arm. He bends down in front of me, "Matt, look at me," he says quietly as there was talking going on behind him.

Begrudgingly I take my eyes away from Ramsey and focus on Kelly, trying to hold back the rage that was running wild inside of me, "You know she's alive right? You feel it?"

After a few moments I nodded, I'd told him this earlier, "Then you need to hold on to that. You know she's alive and right now Gabby needs you to focus on that. We're gonna find her, but screaming in Ramsey's face isn't going to get us anywhere, you hear?"

I can't say anything because if I do I'll scream, so I only nod. Kelly is satisfied with this and allows me to stand and make my way over to Voight, but I can feel his eyes on me as I move.

Voight and Antonio stand before Ramsey, the others lining the inner perimeter of the cabin, a few of them on their cells, calling for back up no doubt.

Voight stood with his arms crossed over his chest and spoke with a dangerously low tone when he finally opened his mouth, "I don't think you need me to tell you what'll happen to you if I let these two alone with you," Voight nods to both Antonio and me, "so I suggest you start talking, and you start talking fast. Where is Gabriela?"

"I don't know!" Ramsey all but wails, which makes Antonio step in front of him and slap his face hard, "I swear if you don't start talking now you and I will be taking a little trip to the lake. Where is my sister? Why were you unconscious when we got here?"

"Okay, okay," Ramsey breathes rapidly, "She knocked me out."

"Talk faster," Voight mutters huskily, to which Ramsey's eyes widen and he says hurriedly, "She got out of her ties and fought me. She hit me over the head with that lamp. I passed out. She must of left."

Voight turns to Burgess and Roman and tells them to take a look outside, whilst Antonio continues on with Ramsey, "Could she have taken your car?"

Ramsey shook his head, "I hide the keys. Top drawer," he motioned towards a stack of drawers and Antonio went over, and pulled out the keys from the drawer.

"She's on foot. We need a search party up here pronto," Antonio tells Voight.

I hear Kelly call Herrmann, he knows these woods. He used to hunt here as a kid. He's calling him for help whilst Voight is drafting in as much help as he can.

Atwater and Ruzek takes Ramsey outside and into the car, slamming the door tightly behind them and standing beside the SUV, talking quietly under their breaths.

"She needs to be found quickly," Lindsay's voice jolts everyone's attention and when my eyes fall on her; I see that she's holding something in her hands. A camcorder.

"Why?" I all but demand my voice full of fear and worry.

"She's not in good shape and she's shocked," Halstead answers, his face solemn, his eyes blazing with anger and disgust.

"What's on the camcorder?" Voight asks, filling a wretched silence filled with pure fear and panic.

Lindsay swallows thickly and shakes her head, "They don't need to see this," she says to him, referring to Antonio and I.

"Erin, what is it?" Antonio demands strongly, he's trying not to show just how scared he is but he's failing.

Lindsay looks to Voight for permission, to which he only nods, and she sets up the camcorder on the table, attaching it to a laptop that she'd found here.

"I know cops are gonna swarm this place soon, but Herrmann's on his way, he's knows these woods like the back of his hand. Any help we can get right?" Kelly murmurs as I watch Erin work.

I can only nod at him.

_"I waited so long for you Gabriela… from the first moment I set eyes on you; I knew that you were the one." It's Ramsey's voice, but you can't see him. All you can see is Gabby lying bound on the bed with her hands above her head, her eyes wide with fear, her body visibly shaking with fear. She was petrified. _

_"I thought about taking you the moment I found out who you were, but I waited. I let my desire for you burn, and my love for you grow."_

_Something in Gabby's head told her she had to start speaking, so she did, "I know, Rams- Victor, I do… And I know you don't want to hurt me. I know that it's never been your intention to hurt or scare me, but you have to stop this, please. Let me go home," her voice is shaking as she pleads with him. _

_"No, I've never wanted to hurt you," Ramsey says as he suddenly comes into view, sitting down beside Gabby on the bed, "Gabriela I want you to love me."_

_She stares up at him, "Ramsey I'm engaged, I'm in love with Matt. We can't…" Gabby baby..._

_He strikes her forcefully, angered by her words. Her skin burned red. Then he pulled the blanket from her and straddled her hips, shocking her and instilling a deep fear within. _

_"Please, god no, please Ramsey don't…" she pleads desperately as he pulls out a scissors from his back pocket, slicing Gabby's sweater open. _

_The fucking bastard._

_"Ssh... It's okay baby."_

_Gabby was choking on her tears. He leans down and kisses her, and when she tries to move away, his hand grips her chin tightly. When she does pull away she begs, "Stop, please, Ramsey stop!"_

_He ignores her, his lips moving down her skin. _

_I'll kill him. _

_She's crying out and he's doing nothing but ignoring her. _

_She fights brilliantly against the bounds, but there's no releasing them. She's kicking, but he's sat on her so not much happens. You can't hear anything but Gabby screaming. _

_His hands made their way towards Gabby's jeans and she screams again, "Please stop, please… no, no, please no… Matt, Matt I'm sorry…" _

_That broke me. That ripped my heart out of my chest. Despite what was happening to her, she was apologising to me when she had nothing to apologise for. _

_Ramsey punches her and her head lulls back, her body limping. She tugged on the ties again, my girl never giving up, and her hands came free. _

_She lunges at Ramsey, stunning him momentarily. He starts to fight back but Gabby's fighting too, and they fall off the bed. His hands are around her throat. She knees him in the balls and rolls away from him._

_A bedside table falls over as Ramsey grabs her leg and pulls her towards him as she screams._

_Gabby grabs the lamp and as Ramsey tries to get on top of her again, she swings it and the base collides with Ramsey's head, knocking him out. _

_Breathing heavily, Gabby clambers to her feet and rushes out the door. Gone._

That's where Lindsay stops the video and the second she does, I have to rush to the sink to be sick.

I feel Kelly's hands on my back, but he has no words of comfort. There are none.

When I'm finished being sick I try to move towards the door, growling, "I'll fucking kill him." But suddenly the hands have returned and despite the fight I put up, Antonio, Voight and Kelly won't let me go.

"Matt, okay, I know, I get it-" Kelly tries to soothe, but I only lose my head.

"He tried to fucking rape her Kelly! What the hell do you expect me to do? He would have done that to her had she not got away and you expect me to be calm about it?" I scream in his face, losing complete control of myself at this point.

"Hey!" Kelly yells right back at me, "This is _not_ the time to lose it! Gabby is out there, and we need your head in this to find her! Do you understand? You can lose your head later but do not lose it on me right now! Think of Gabby, Matt, she needs you."

I hated that he knew exactly what to say, because all I wanted to do was wrap my hands around Ramsey's throat but yet his words had re-focused me on the most important thing here, Gabby.

"Then let's go find her."

Antonio quickly speaks up, "We'll go Matt, we will, but it makes sense to wait for backup before we do. It's pointless wasting time searching in places she won't be. When we get the sniffer dogs here, we'll have a better chance of finding her."

My eyes narrow angrily, "So you're saying we just wait here whilst she's out there alone?"

"I don't like it any more than you do Matt, but it'll save wasting time," Antonio explains.

Fifteen minutes later Kelly and I are sat outside on the steps of the cabin, me breathing roughly, tugging my hands through my hair, wanting to feel Gabby's body in my arms, her breath against my neck, her chest rising and falling against mine.

"I don't even know what we've been doing..." I mutter quietly, hardly realising that I'd spoken aloud.

Kelly turns to me with a confused look on his face, "What do you mean?"

"Gabby and me," I explain, "We've let everything get in the way of us, when we are the only thing that matters. I want to marry her Kelly, I want to marry Gabby and have our own little family. She's completely it for me, and I can't let her get away."

Kelly had two simple, but powerful words for me, "Then don't."

Then something truly amazing happened.

Three cars pulled up, three cars I recognised.

Herrmann, Mouch, Chief and Otis got out of the first one. Mills, Brett and Cruz out of the other. And Capp, Newhouse and Tony out of the third, followed by a dog.

Herrmann approached us alongside Chief, "We're going to find her Casey," Herrmann says, "I know these woods like I know firefighting. We'll find our girl."

Newhouse came up to us too, the dog following beside as he had it on a lease, "Friend of mine breeds sniffer dogs, and this one is his best dog. She's trained in finding lost people, especially in the woods... We're ready to go if you are; do you have anything of Dawson's?"

Kelly rushed inside to grab the jacket of Gabby's we knew that was in there. Whilst he was gone, I looked at the family that stood before me.

"Thank you so much for doing this," I say to them sincerely.

"It's what family does Lt.," Cruz nods towards me, as I see Voight and Antonio approach.

"What are you doing?"

Kelly appears with the jacket in hand, passing it to Newhouse who allows the dog to sniff it, "Finding Gabby. You're welcome to join us," he says to them, as we all start making our way in the wood, following the dog whose nose was buried in the earth.

They do. Everyone except from Ruzek and Atwater, who were watching Ramsey, followed us into the woods.

I end up walking beside Mills and Brett, "What are you guys doing here? You should be at home resting."

Brett shrugs, "Gabby risked her life to save us. We've got to return the favour."

"And there's no way we'd let everyone else go and not help," Mills added.

"Thank you," I tell them both, "Thank you."

And it was only then did I truly believe that we'd find Gabby, because this family never lets anyone down.


	13. Always

**Hey everyone!**

**I know that this is the chapter you've all been waiting for, so here it is!**

**Again, thank you for your overwhelming support and love for this story!**

**I'm sorry if I make any of you a little teary-eyed during this chapter. I know I made myself cry when I wrote Gabby's part, you'll see why.**

**Hope you're having a wonderful day!**

**I promise I'll update as soon as I can!**

**Love Hannah.**

**oxoxox**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

Seconds drag into minutes. Minutes drag into hours. An hour has passed and we've yet to find her.

The dog lost Gabby's scent for over twenty minutes before she, Piper, found it again.

_Surely she couldn't have gotten far?_

We had questioned this and realised that despite Gabby's injuries, despite how scared and dazed she was when she ran out of that cabin, she was a fighter. And she would have continued to run.

Mills said that her adrenaline would have been pumping, allowing her to ignore the pain, and would have allowed her to run as much as her body was able to. But the thing was, it was cold despite the sun shining, the air was almost bitter and I couldn't stand the thought of Gaby being out, alone, scared and desperate in this weather, injured.

Antonio had said that other teams of officers had arrived and were also looking for Gabby. It didn't help, we hadn't found her yet.

"Gabby! Gabby! Gabby!"

Constant, continuous yells of her name echoed through the wood, the breeze carrying the sounds past the trees, over bushes, across the solid ground.

Focusing on Gabby was the only thing keeping me going. If for a second I focused on anything other than the memory of her face, her smile, her laugh, her touch, her body wrapped in mine, a blanket of seething rage threatened to claim me and turn me around back to Ramsey. To wrap my hands around his neck.

But he wasn't important; he was insignificant, when Gabby was the only thing that meant everything in this world to me. That was the reason that I was still here, that was the reason for my undying happiness, even if she was the biggest pain in my ass. She was my pain in the ass and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd taken her for what she is, strong, single-minded, stubborn, hot-headed, beautiful, caring, passionate, daring, spontaneous, kind, loving, and she had taken me, Matthew Casey, stubborn in my own right too, Gabby had taken me and loved me with everything she had.

And that was the reason why I kept going, because I had to tell her, that no matter what shit we were putting each other through, no matter the problems, the arguments, the rough times, I wanted her and everything that it included. I wanted Gabriela Dawson forever.

I watched as Antonio called for his sister over and over, never ending, overcome with a desperate need to be the big brother he'd always been to Gabby and find his sister safe.

Our 51 family stuck close but spread out enough so that we could cover every inch of this wood, staying close to Newhouse's heels who guided the search party with the sniffer dog. I was so thankful for our family, so thankful that they'd dropped everything and come to help find the person they saw as a friend, a sister, a loving member of our close-knit family.

I follow right on Newhouse's tail as we continue to move throughout the woods. The day was moving on, now into the early hours of the afternoon, but the air didn't get any warmer. If anything it felt colder. Gabby was out, alone, in this cold.

Then the dog barks loudly, wildly, and starts running, tugging Newhouse along with her. I'm running with them. _Gabby._

We run until the dog stops and lies down beside a boot of Gabby's. The other is strewn on the ground a few feet away.

"Must have fallen off as she ran," Antonio murmurs when he reaches us, slightly flustered from the sudden rush, disappointment on his face after realising that we hadn't found his sister, just a boot belonging to her.

Kelly looks up at me with hope and encouragement in his eyes, "This mean we're close right? Gabby couldn't have gone much further."

I nod and follow Piper, who had picked Gabby's scent up once more. My calls for Gabby even louder this time, more desperate. My throat began to protest from all the screaming that had erupted from my throat over the past day, but I kept calling. _I wanted Gabby to know that we were searching for her. That we weren't giving up. _

* * *

><p><strong><em>Dawson<em>**

"Hey hot mama."

It was a voice I hadn't heard in months, _nine _heart-breaking, torturous agonizing months.

It was a voice I hadn't heard in months because Shay was dead.

But when I opened eyes and strained through the bright light that pierced through the trees, there she sat beside me. Shay.

Cross-legged and smiling and beautiful.

And here.

But I couldn't move to hold her, to feel her, to hug her and tell her how much I missed her. I was frozen.

"Shay?" The name had meant nothing but an indication of grief over these last few months. It was no longer used a way to address a person; it was an explanation over why we were upset or sad or feeling hurt.

But here Shay is, nodding her head and me and grinning, "It's me alright."

"You're dead," I state and find that it's easier to say to her that to say aloud to anyone else.

Nodding again, "I am."

"Am I dead?" I question. _Why could I see her? Why could I talk to her but not move?_

Shay shakes her head, reaching over to clasp her hand over mine that was laying limp over some leaves on the ground. I didn't feel her hand against mine, yet my eyes told me that she was touching me, "You're not dead."

"Then why am I talking you?"

Shay shrugs, "Because you want to, I guess."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Laughing her full belly laugh that I'd missed more than anything Shay giggles, "God you're still as sassy as ever."

"Is this in my head?"

Shay nods.

"So you're not real?"

A soft smile pulls at her lips, "I'm here aren't I?" She scoots herself closer, so that her hips touch my body, but I feel nothing. Shay studies my face for a while, I see sadness etched there, her smile becoming sad, "You've had it rough lately."

"We all have," is all I'm able to answer.

"I miss you guys you know..."

I'm crying, and she is, but the tears that make their way down her pale cheeks fall on my chest, but I feel no wetness, "I know, we miss you too. More than anything," I choke out.

"But I'm always watching," Shay whispers, a truth in her words that assured me that she was, despite if this was real or not, "Well, not all the time. I take care in not watching you have sex, or in the bathroom, that's just gross."

"You're gross," I point out to her, and my only reply is a tongue poked in my direction. _Typical Shay._

And we fell into a comfortable silence, just like the ones we had in the ambo, the ones where we took solace in each other's company and knew exactly what the other was thinking.

"Look Gabs," Shay suddenly says, a seriousness now in her voice, "I need you to listen to me, okay? They're on their way-"

"Who's on their way?" I question, butting in.

"Casey, you're brother, Kelly, everyone. They're coming to find you-"

"How is everyone here?"

Shay hisses at me, "Will you stop interrupting? Jeez Gabs you haven't changed a bit have you?"

"Neither have you," I smirk.

"Look, they're going to find you okay? And when they do, I need you to promise me that you're going to be okay. That you'll fix things with Casey. Do you know what it's like looking without being able to bang your heads together? It's fucking hard. You two sort your shit out you hear me? Or I swear I'll come haunt you."

"Noted," I murmur, unable to say anything else because, as always, Shay was right.

"And can you tell Kelly something for me?" Shay asks almost desperately and I nod.

"Tell him that I love him and that I'm here for him, always."

"I will," I answer, finding that the tears had overwhelmed me once more.

Shay then lays down beside me, her hand clasped in mine, and I swear for a second I felt her warmth.

"Shay?" I murmur.

"Yeah?" She hums quietly back.

"Are you happy?"

Shay smiles, not a silly smile, not a joking one, a pure, unadulterated, knowing smile, "Always."

"Gabby?"

"Yeah Shay?" I whisper.

"Close your eyes."

I shake my head, "You won't be here when I wake up."

"I'm always here."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Casey<em>**

I swear I felt her. I felt Gabby's presence close by. I knew we were close. I felt her.

The dog started running. I did too. Everyone, running. Desperate.

"Gabby!"

"Call out!"

"Dawson!"

"We're here Dawson!"

"Gabby!"

And then we come to a hill, where the dog pauses for a second. I almost throw myself down it when I see Gabby lying at the bottom, limp, unconscious.

I run down, hearing the leaves crunch under my feet.

I reach her first; someone behind me is calling for Mills and Brett, 'she needs medics!'

She'd cold. She's so cold. And her body is exposed from where Ramsey cut her sweater, leaving her strewn on the floor in bra. I take off my jacket and lay it over her.

I clutch her cheeks, feel her breath on my thumb as it ran along her lips, "Gabby, baby, can you hear me? It's Matt, baby, you're okay now. I'm here," I ramble to her, cradling her body to mine.

I can see the bruises. The red marks on her body, her neck, her jaw. A cut on her lip. Her wrists are cut up from struggling against her bounds, the blood now dry on her cold and pale skin.

Suddenly Mills and Brett arrive; carrying kit they must have been given. Aside from Antonio crouched beside me, it's only us with Gabby. Someone's calling about 'giving them space' around us.

"She's breathing well," Brett assures to me, "And her pulse is stronger than I thought."

"That's Gabby," Antonio breathes with a sigh of pure relief, rubbing his face.

"We need a backboard over here! And a C-Collar!" Mills calls over and I hear someone say that because we're not too far from a road, the ambo will be here quicker than we thought.

They move Gabby securely onto the backboard, still unconscious. But Mills said that it's to be expected. That her vitals are strong. That it looks like she's okay.

We carry her through the remainder of the forest, Antonio, Mills, Kelly and I, until we reach the road where the ambo and a few police cars are parked. She's quickly handed over to new medics and taken into the ambo.

I climb in with them as the medic tells Antonio which hospital we're headed for.

As we drive off, I see the family, everyone from 51 and District 21, hugging each other, relieved.

I then turn to Gabby, clutching her warming hand in my own as I brush her curly messy hair from her eyes, "I love you Gabby."

_And I'm never letting you go again._


End file.
